Russian-U.S. company International Launch Services (ILS) will launch on Sunday a Proton-M heavy carrier rocket with a U.S. telecommunications satellite on board, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
ILS, owned by the Khrunichev Center, RSC Energia and U.S. firm Space Transport Inc., provides spacecraft launch services for Proton-M heavy carrier rockets.
"The launch of the SkyTerra 1 satellite has been scheduled for 08:29 p.m. Moscow time [17:29 GMT] from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan," a spokesman said. "The satellite is designed to provide voice and data services in L-band."
The SkyTerra 1 is among the largest and most powerful telecommunications satellites ever built.
It was manufactured by Boeing and is based on the reliable Boeing 702 Geo-Mobile platform.
The satellite has a 22-meter L-band reflector for mobile terminal links complemented by a 1.5 meter Ku-band antenna.
SkyTerra 1 and its twin - SkyTerra 2 - will enable in the future the world's first commercial mobile satellite service using both space and terrestrial elements.
MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti)
