* Astronomy

T minus 1 hour

All system nominal.

ILS has rescheduled the Proton launch of the AMC-23 Satellite to 2:28 GMT, December 29, 2005, from Launch Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The Proton launch vehicle will inject the satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, using a five-burn Breeze M mission design. The first three stages of the Proton will use a standard ascent trajectory to place the Breeze M fourth stage, with the satellite, into a suborbital trajectory, from which the Breeze M will place itself and the spacecraft into a support or reference orbit of 173 km, inclined at 51.5 degrees. Then the satellite will be propelled to its transfer orbit by additional burns of the Breeze M. Following separation from the Breeze M, the spacecraft will perform a series of liquid apogee engine burns to raise perigee, lower inclination and circularise the orbit at the geostationary altitude of 36,000 km.

Target Orbit at Separation:
Apogee: 35,786 km
Perigee: 6,400 km
Inclination: 18.3 degrees

The Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle will lift-off from Launch Pad 39, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 2:28 GMT, December 6, 2005.

The launch vehicle will inject the satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, using a five-burn Breeze M mission design. The first three stages of the Proton will use a standard ascent trajectory to place the Breeze M fourth stage, with the satellite, into a suborbital trajectory, from which the Breeze M will place itself and the spacecraft into a support or reference orbit of 173 km, inclined at 51.5 degrees.
Then the satellite will be propelled to its transfer orbit by additional burns of the Breeze M.
Following separation from the Breeze M, the spacecraft will perform a series of liquid apogee engine burns to raise perigee, lower inclination and circularise the orbit at the geostationary altitude of 36,000 km, with an orbital location of 172 degrees East longitude.

Target Orbit at Separation:
Apogee: 35,786 km
Perigee: 6,400 km
Inclination: 18.3

Twenty four months after the signature of the contract, Alcatel Alenia Space - the prime contractor - announced that the AMC-23 communications satellite is ready to be integrated on the Proton/Breeze M rocket in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Dedicated to the U.S. operator SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL company, AMC-23 is scheduled for launch on December 6, 2005 by International Launch Services on a Proton Breeze M.

This advanced, high-powered hybrid C/Ku-band satellite will operate over the Pacific region. From this single satellite, communications will be sent from California to Bangladesh and from Alaska to Australia and New Zealand. This hybrid satellite, positioned at 172 degrees East Longitude, will serve local, transcontinental and transoceanic customers across the Pacific region, including Western North America, Eastern Asia, the South Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii and provide links to the world's premier regional satellite systems.

The satellite's Ku-band payload composed of 20 high-powered transponders with bandwidths ranging from 27 to 36 MHz, has been designed to meet the particular requirements of AMERICOM's customer, Connexion by Boeing, for the delivery of high-speed broadband services to commercial airline passengers throughout the Pacific region. In addition, the 18 transponder C-band payloads will be available to broadcasters, cable programmers, Internet service providers, government agencies, educational institutions, carriers and private networks for next generation distribution solutions and connectivity to North America and Pacific Rim.

" We are proud to strengthen the mutual trust between Alcatel Alenia Space and SES AMERICOM. With this 4th Spacebus satellite, which will soon be part of AMERICOM's fleet, we have again expanded our range of technological expertise to meet the needs of new satellite-based services like high-speed Internet, data and entertainment connectivity to aircraft in flight" - Pascale Sourisse, Alcatel Alenia Space President and CEO.

With a launch mass of approximately 5 metric tons, a power of 13 kW, AMC-23 is the fourth Spacebus 4000* telecommunication satellite to be launched this year and will be the fourth Spacebus satellite delivered to SES AMERICOM** in seven years.

Source