AMC-6

For the ship, see USS Heath Hen (AMc-6).
AMC-6
Mission type Communications[1]
Operator GE Americom (2000–2001)
SES Americom (2001–2009)
SES World Skies (2009—)
COSPAR ID 2000-067A
Website AMC-6 website
Mission duration 15 years (design life)[2][3]
Spacecraft properties
Bus A2100AX[4]
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin
Launch mass 3,909 kilograms (8,618 lb)[2]
Start of mission
Launch date October 21, 2000, 22:00 (2000-10-21UTC22Z) UTC
Rocket Proton-K/DM3[2]
Launch site Baikonur 81/23[1][2]
Contractor ILS
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Geostationary
Longitude 72° West[3]
Perigee 35,784.8 kilometers (22,235.6 mi)[5]
Apogee 35,803.9 kilometers (22,247.5 mi)[5]
Inclination 0 degrees[5]
Period 1436.1 minutes[5]
Transponders
Band 24 C band
28 Ku band
Frequency 36 MHz
72 MHz (4 Ku-band)
Coverage area North and South America[3]

AMC-6, formerly GE-6, is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES World Skies. Launched on October 21, 2000, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, AMC-6 became the fifth hybrid C band/Ku band satellite in the GE Americom fleet. The satellite provides coverage to the continental United States, Canada, the Caribbean islands, southern Greenland, and Central and South America. Located in a geostationary orbit parallel to the eastern United States coastline, AMC-6 provides service to commercial and government customers, and is used as an Internet platform due to its wide coverage and redundancy. Some of its capabilities include VSAT networking, satellite news gathering and Ku band transceiver service.[3] Launched as GE-6, it was renamed AMC-6 when SES took over GE Americom in 2001, forming SES Americom. This merged with SES New Skies in 2009 to form SES World Skies.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "NSSDC Master Catalog: GE 6". NASA.gov. April 2, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Krebs, Gunter (May 31, 2008). "GE 4, 6 / AMC 4, 6 / Rainbow 2". Skyrocket.de. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Satellite Data". SES-Worldskies.com. 2008. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Satellite Manufacturing Special" (PDF). Satellite-evolution.com. September–October 2004. p. 4. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "AMC-6 (GE-6) Satellite details". N2YO.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  6. ↑ "SES Americom-New Skies Satellite Division Re-Brands as SES World Skies". Reuters. September 7, 2009. Retrieved July 4, 2012.

External links

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