EchoStar Corp. said the EchoStar 105/SES-11 has reached its 105 degree West orbital position and is now available for commercial service.
The new bird is a high-powered, hybrid Ku and C-band communications satellite for EchoStar and SES with a 24x36 Ku-band payload. It replaces the capacity that EchoStar previously offered via the AMC-15 satellite.
Built by Airbus Defence and Space, the satellite is based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, and will add Ku-band coverage for North America and be capable of supporting apps that include video distribution, data communications and backhaul services.
EchoStar 105/SES-11 was launched on Oct. 11, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“EchoStar 105 provides coverage of the 50 U.S. states and offers increased reach to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean,” Anders Johnson, chief strategy officer of EchoStar and president of EchoStar Satellite Services, said in a statement. “We are excited to be able to offer the tailored Ku-band capacity of this high-powered satellite to our current and prospective customers in the enterprise, media and broadcast, and U.S. government service provider markets.”
