BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan), March 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a Mexican telecommunications satellite blasted off on Tuesday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos reported.
The launch of the Satmex-8 satellite was initially scheduled for December 27, but was postponed following the Yamal-402 satellite trouble which involved a glitch in Proton-M’s Briz-M booster.
“The Proton launch was carried out as scheduled – at 23:06 Moscow time [7:06 p.m. GMT]. The separation of the spacecraft from the Briz-M booster is slated for 08:19 Moscow time [4:19 a.m. GMT] on Wednesday, March 27,” a Roscosmos spokesman said.
Satmex-8, operated by Mexican Satellites Mexicanos S.A. de C.V. (Satmex), is a high-power C and Ku-band satellite that replaces Satmex-5 and will provide Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) in both North and South America.
The new satellite, which has a service life of 15 years, will augment the current Satmex fleet in providing services such as broadband, voice and data transmission, and video broadcasting.