16/7 Tass 3
BAIKONUR, July 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The Proton-M rocket will lift off from Baikonur on Saturday to deploy KazSat-2 /Kazakhstan/ and SES-3 /USA/ communication satellites.
“The launch of the Proton-M is due at 03:16 Moscow time,” press secretary of Russia’ Hkrunichev Space research centre Alexander Bobrenev said.
The deployment will take 08 hours 01 minute for the SES-3 satellite and 09 hours and 24 minutes for the KazSat-2.
The SES-3 was made by the Orbital Sciences Corporation at the order of the USA’s satellite communications operator SES World Skies. It will provide communication services in the territories of North America and the Caribbean Basin. The expected service on the orbit is 15 years. The satellite’s weight is 3,150 kilograms.
The KazSat-2 was made at the order of the Republic’s Centre of Space Communication /Kazakhstan/. It will provide television and data broadcast in the territories of Kazakhstan, Central Asian countries and Russia’s central part. It is expected to work on the orbit for twelve years, its weight is 1,270.
The Proton-M space rocket with the Briz-M upper stage was produced at the Khrunichev space centre. The rocket’s start weight is about 700 tonnes.