BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan – The launch of Telesat’s newest satellite, Nimiq 4, has been delayed by a day.
It will now launch on Friday September 19th at 5:48 p.m. Eastern time (Saturday September 20 at 3:48 a.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The launch had been scheduled for tomorrow, but was postponed due to the need to replace an avionics unit on the first stage of the Proton M rocket which showed an anomalous signature during routine testing.
Telesat’s Nimiq 4 is fully leased to DTH operator Bell TV, and will enable the satellite TV company to expand their digital satellite television services by offering more HDTV, specialty channels and foreign-language programming.
Nimiq 4 was built by EADS Astrium with mission management provided by ILS. The spacecraft will operate from Telesat’s orbital position of 82 degrees West with 32 active high-power transponders in Ku-band and eight in Ka-band. Nimiq 4 has a launch mass of approximately 4850 kg and an expected 15-year mission life.
