Nimiq 1

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

22:30:00

Thursday May 20, 1999

Mission Details

Nimiq 1

Wiki

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

Rocket

Retired
Proton-K/Block DM-3

Active 1996 to 1999

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center logo

Manufacturer

Khrunichev

Rocket

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

Launch Site

Site 81/23

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

11 days 23 hours

Stats

Proton-K


260th

Mission

4th

Mission of 1999

1999


28th

Orbital launch attempt