[FPSPACE] Amazonas launched

[Zeger Nuyens]

>
>
> PROTON BOOSTER LAUNCHES AMAZONAS
>
> MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) - A Proton-M Russian booster rocket 
> lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan last night 
> carrying Amazonas, a European telecommunications satellite, into 
> orbit. The satellite was put into orbit and control over it has been 
> transferred to the customer, officials at Russia's Federal Space 
> Agency told RIA.
>
> Built by the European company EADS Astrium, Amazonas is one of the 
> world's most powerful satellites. It is intended for digital 
> television and radio broadcasting, telephone, and broadband Internet 
> services.
>
> The Proton-M booster was designed and manufactured by the Khrunichev 
> Space Center.
>
> The Amazonas satellite, weighing 4,540 kilograms, will cover South 
> America and part of Western Europe, including Spain, Portugal and France.
>
> The contract for the commercial launch was concluded between 
> International Launch Services (ILS), a U.S.-Russian joint venture, 
> which markets globally the Proton and the U.S.-made booster rocket, 
> Atlas. ILS comprises the U.S. company Lockheed Martin and its Russian 
> counterparts, the Khrunichev Center and Energia.
>
> The Proton-M is an upgraded version of the Proton launch vehicle, with 
> improved operational and environmental characteristics. It has a new 
> digital flight control system. Also, it provides an effective solution 
> to the problem of decreasing the size of the landing site for the 
> first stage of the launcher, and ensures that the spent stage has no 
> residual fuels.
>
> The Proton-M's enlarged aerodynamics allow it to transport twice as 
> much payload, using advanced upper stages. The power potential and the 
> multiple restart capability of the Briz-M upper stage make it possible 
> for the vehicle to carry satellites into a wide range of orbits and to 
> launch a group of satellites at once.
>

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Zeger Nuyens
dokter.nuyens at pandora.be