NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Nimiq 1

Launch Time
Thu May 20, 1999 22:30 UTC

Rocket

Proton-K/Block DM-3
ILS
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 9,548 kN
Payload to LEO: 19,000 kg
Payload to GTO: 2,500 kg
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 57.64 m
Fairing Diameter: 4.35 m
Fairing Height: 10.4 m

Mission Details

Nimiq 1

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.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 3,600.0 kg
Geostationary Transfer Orbit

Location

Site 81/23, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

1999

28th orbital launch attempt

Proton-K

260th mission
4th mission of 1999
228th successful mission
11th consecutive successful mission