Boeing DirecTV 11
Satellite Receives 1st Signal Following Successful Launch
(20 March 2008) The Boeing Company has
received the first on-orbit signals from its DirecTV 11 satellite, indicating
that the satellite is healthy and operating normally.
A ground
station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa, reported spacecraft acquisition at
1:44 a.m. Eastern time, as scheduled.
The newest satellite for DirecTV
Inc. was launched on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket on March 19 from Sea
Launch's equatorial launch site in the Pacific Ocean.
(courtesy: Sea Launch)
"The successful launch of DirecTV 11 marks
another milestone in the evolution of DirecTV as the leading satellite TV
service and provider of high-definition programming," said Rômulo
Pontual, DirecTV's chief technology officer. "Through our long collaboration
with Boeing and our commitment to deploying the most advanced technology, we
are in the best competitive position to meet the growing demand for
high-definition services and provide the most compelling viewing experience for
our more than 16.8 million customers."
DirecTV 11 is a Boeing 702
satellite with onboard technology that will enable DirecTV to continue
expanding its industry-leading line-up of quality High-Definition Television
(HDTV) programming to its U.S. customers. DirecTV 11, together with the DirecTV
10 satellite launched last year, will provide DirecTV with the capacity for 150
national HDTV channels and 1,500 local channels.
"Boeing and DirecTV are
celebrating 15 years of collaboration, and I cannot think of a better way to
mark this occasion than with the successful delivery, launch and signal
acquisition of the ninth satellite we've built for DirecTV," said Craig
Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence
Systems. "We've come a long way since Boeing's first DirecTV satellite, and we
remain committed to their success as we work to deliver the next in the series
of HDTV satellites."
DirecTV 1, launched in 1993, boasted a solar
wingspan of 86 feet and an innovative graphite-antenna system featuring
transmit and receive reflectors with a contoured surface that required only one
feedhorn antenna to provide an optimal signal. Today's DirecTV 11 has a
wingspan measuring more than 157 feet and supplements its antenna system with
spot-beam technology capable of concentrating the broadcast signal to specific
markets.
DirecTV 11 is the second of three next-generation Boeing-built
satellites that are helping to expand DirecTV's market by providing technology
that brings the crystal-clear sharpness of satellite-delivered HDTV into
millions of households.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated
Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defence businesses
specialising in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a US$ 32.1
billion business with 71,000 employees world-wide.
(source:
Boeing)
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