Tag Archives: Telesat

2012 marks Canada’s 50th year in space. It was September 29th, 1962 that Canada became the third country in the world to develop its own satellite and see it launched. In the 50 years since Canada has become a major contributor in space. Several events will highlight this anniversary. The first to is an exhibit which just opened at Canada’s Embassy in Washington.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced recently that it has transferred implementation of high speed interactive R&D broadband services in the far north to Telesat Canada.

Today at 3:12 p.m. EDT today a Russian Proton M launch vehicle launched the Telesat Nimiq 6 satellite into an eventual Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), a stationary location that keeps the satellite over one spot of the Earth as both the satellite and Earth rotate.

ViaSat -1, North America’s first 4G broadband satellite, was successfully placed into orbit today on an ILS Proton M rocket. With a capacity in excess of 140 Gbps, the satellite has more bandwidth capability than all the current satellites over North America combined and is considered to be a ‘game-changer’ for providing broadband coverage to rural areas at reduced cost.

The Anik F2 satellite which went offline yesterday due to a software malfunction is back in service said Telesat, its owner. While the satellite was down it affected mostly northern communities in Canada’s arctic. Services affected included phone and banking services which were offline and caused First Air to cancel most flights.

Telesat saw its Nimiq 5 satellite launched today from pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Proton Breeze M rocket. Nimiq 5 is a commercial communications satellite built by Space Systems/Loral for Telesat. Nimiq 5 will utilize 32 high-powered Ku-band transponders to deliver high definition and direct-to-home television services for EchoStar and the Dish Network in the United States.