OTTAWA – Delivering next generation TV services, Telesat today unveiled plans for Nimiq 4, its next direct broadcast satellite.
Telesat’s eighteenth satellite will enable Telesat’s customer (and corporate cousin), Bell ExpressVu, to continue to enhance advanced services such as high-definition television, specialty channels and foreign language programming.
Telesat has selected EADS Astrium, Europe’s largest space company, as the manufacturer for Nimiq 4, and International Launch Services (ILS) for the satellite’s launch in 2008.
"For more than 35 years, Telesat has taken pride in carrying the most advanced broadcasting services to viewers from sea to sea – and Nimiq 4 continues that tradition," said Larry Boisvert, Telesat’s president and CEO, in a release.
As prime contractor for Nimiq 4, EADS Astrium will design and build the satellite and supply both its payload and its platform. Canadian industry will provide a significant portion of the spacecraft’s equipment and technology. Based on the E3000 version of the Eurostar satellite, Nimiq 4 will be equipped with 32 active high-power transponders in Ku-band and eight in Ka-band, meaning it will carry data signals, too.
The 4.8 tonne bird will have a solar array span of 39 meters once deployed in orbit, and spacecraft power of 12 kW at end of life.
Operating in geostationary orbit, the satellite will provide commercial services for a minimum of 15 years and will operate from an orbital location of 82 degrees West.
Telesat is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bell Canada Enterprises.
