Intelsat announced Monday that it has scheduled the launch of its Intelsat Americas-9 satellite for the fourth quarter of 2007. The decision allows Intelsat to serve customer demand for high-powered Ku-band capacity for data networking, video and other applications, the company said in a statement.
Intelsat has signed a firm launch contract for the IA-9 with Boeing's Sea Launch division. The launch would be Sea Launch's second with Intelsat, following the successful IA-8 mission in June 2005.
Plans call for IA-9 to occupy the 97 degrees west longitude geostationary orbital position, which is now held by IA-5. The new satellite will serve the existing and growth requirements of Intelsat's customers from that orbital location. Following IA-9's launch, IA-5 will be redeployed to a currently vacant location at 77 degrees west.
IA-9 would become the 28th satellite in Intelsat's constellation, serving international-programming customers in North America, including media, enterprise and government organizations.
At 97 degrees west, the Space Systems/Loral built IA-9 will provide coverage over the Continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Caribbean and parts of Canada. The spacecraft will offer 28 Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders.
