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Tag: NSS-7 satellite

  • New Skies’ NSS-7 satellite enters commercial service

    New Skies’ NSS-7 satellite enters commercial service

    New Skies’ NSS-7 Atlantic Ocean region satellite entered into commercial service for premiere broadcast, Internet and telecom customers on 30 May. 

    The milestone, says the global satellite communications company, was capped by a multi-year agreement with BT Broadcast Services, one of the world’s leading broadcast solutions providers, to launch a new African direct-to-home (DTH) television service for Media Overseas, a unit of Vivendi Universal’s group.

    The two companies will deliver a fully integrated, end-to-end service, using BT’s owned and operated Pont de Sevres Teleport in Paris and New Skies’ high-powered NSS-7 Ku-band capacity, says an official release. BT will uplink Media Overseas’ digital programming packages in Paris to a full transponder on NSS-7’s Ku-band Africa spot beam for direct broadcast to consumer households throughout Cameroon, Cte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

    NSS-7 successfully completed in-orbit testing and entered commercial service on May 30. The satellite, which was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems and launched on 16 April 2002, operates from 338.5 degrees east longitude over the Atlantic Ocean. NSS-7 features nearly 3,500 MHz of capacity spread over 36 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders. In addition, capacity can be flexibly assigned to eleven high-powered coverage beams, blanketing the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a company release.

    NSS-7 was designed to replace the NSS-K and NSS-803 satellites at 338.5 degrees east, combining the extensive television and Internet traffic from the two satellites to debut as a premier video and IP neighborhood in the Atlantic Ocean region. With NSS-7 now operational, New Skies is currently transitioning customers from NSS-K and NSS-803. The company expects to complete the process by late August.

    Media Overseas deputy managing director Arnaud de Villeneuve says:”We are especially pleased that the service was up and running on NSS-7 in time for the first match of the World Cup between France and Senegal on May 31, enabling subscribers to watch Senegal’s victory in digital-quality video and audio.”

    New Skies’ senior vice president of sales and marketing, Rudo Jockin says NSS-7 will serve as a major transmission platform for broadcasters, cable programmers, news agencies, ISPs, corporate enterprises, rural telecommunication networks, and direct-to-home television operators. 

  • New Skies NSS-7 satellite lift-off today

    New Skies NSS-7 satellite lift-off today

    Global satellite communications company New Skies Satellites has announced the completion of preparations for the launch of its high-powered NSS-7 Atlantic Ocean region satellite. The launch scheduled for Tuesday will be the first launch of a Dutch commercial communications satellite.

    The 4,700-kilogram NSS-7, built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, will lift off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana aboard an Ariane 4 rocket. The launch window on the evening of 16 April is between 10:53 pm (16 April) and 12:14 pm (17 April) GMT. 

    NSS-7 will succeed the NSS-K and NSS-803 satellites at 338.5 degrees East longitude over the Atlantic Ocean, and will offer enhanced coverage of the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The spacecraft will retire NSS-K and free NSS-803 to be re-positioned over the Pacific Ocean at 183 degrees East, according to an official release.

    Upon reaching its new orbital location, NSS-803 will replace the NSS-513 satellite and provide more robust capacity for services throughout the Asia-Pacific region as well as trans-oceanic connectivity to the United States. The release states that NSS-7 will offer current and potential customers a full complement of services, including video distribution and contribution, Internet backbone connectivity, corporate business networking as well as telephony and data services. The satellite will combine the existing television and Internet services on NSS-K with the substantial video and data traffic on NSS-803, debuting with an established video, IP and telecom neighborhood. 

    The NSS-7 design is based on Lockheed Martin’s A2100AX platform and boasts a communications payload consisting of nearly 3,500 MHz of capacity. The bandwidth is spread over 36 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders in 11 high-powered coverage beams, which are focused on key developed and emerging markets. 

    Existing customers on NSS-K and NSS-803 are expected to be transitioned to NSS-7 by August. The satellite will be operated from the New Skies satellite operations center in The Hague. The launch signifies the beginning of an expansion campaign that will double New Skies’ in-orbit resources by the end of next year, providing state-of-the-art capacity and services in every major market. 

    The company believes NSS-7’s Ku-band beams in Central and South America, as well as Western and Southern Africa, will offer more efficient transmission capabilities to broadcasters and VSAT service providers, and will add much-needed incremental Ku-band capacity to New Skies’ inventory in the Atlantic Ocean region. It expects NSS-803 at 183 degrees East to form a vital link in its worldwide network, relaying bi-directional traffic between the United States and the Pacific Rim.