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Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
22:30:00
Thursday May 20, 1999
Nimiq 1 and 2, high-power Ku/Ka-band satellites, feature 32 active 24 MHz Ku-band transponders with 120 Watt power amplifiers, and Nimiq 2 also has a Ka-band payload that will provide broadband services. Nimiq 1 and 2 are A2100AX satellites, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, with a minimum service life of 12 years. The satellite's name – chosen from 36,000 submissions in a national contest in 1998 – is an Inuit word for any object or force that unites things or binds them together. Nimiq 2 experienced a malfunction that affected the available power on the spacecraft on 20 February 2003. The satellite is currently generating sufficient power to operate only 26 of the 32 transponders.
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
1 Payload
3,600 kilograms
Manufacturer
KhrunichevRocket
Height: 57.64m
Payload to Orbit
LEO: 19,000 kg
GTO: 2,500 kg
Liftoff Thrust
9,548 Kilonewtons
Fairing
Diameter: 4.35m
Height: 10.4m
Stages
4
260th
Mission
4th
Mission of 1999
28th
Orbital launch attempt