SES/DISH Bird Flies into Space

[Gregg Lengling]

SES Americom's AMC-16 satellite flew aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Friday morning in what vehicle launch provider International Launch Services said was a flawless mission.

The hybrid Ku-Band/Ka-Band satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, will soon begin payload and performance testing at 82 degrees. It's anticipated that AMC-16 will be ready to support high-speed data and video services for customer EchoStar and its DISH Network DBS service sometime in the first quarter, SES Americom said.

AMC-16 is the second satellite SES Americom has dedicated to EchoStar's satellite TV service, the first being the AMC-15 spacecraft that launched in October. "With the successful launch of AMC-16, in combination with its soon-to-be-operating identical twin, AMC-15, I believe the Americom2Home concept has been fully realized and Americom's excellence is clearly demonstrated once again," said Anders Johnson, senior vice president of strategic satellite initiatives at SES Americom.

It's anticipated that AMC-16 will reside at 85 degrees while AMC-15 will go into operation at 105 degrees.