Summary
| Names | GE-3, Eagle-1 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Communications[1] |
| Operator | GE Americom (1997-2001) SES Americom (2001-2009) SES World Skies (2009—) |
| COSPAR ID | 1997-050A |
| SATCAT no. | 24936 |
| Mission duration | Designed: 15 years[2] Elapsed: 23 years, 4 months, 21 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | A2100A[3] |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin |
| Launch mass | 2,845 kg (6,272 lb)[4] |
| Power | LEROS-1C[4] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | September 4, 1997, 12:03 UTC[1] |
| Rocket | Atlas IIAS[4] |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-36A[4] |
| Contractor | ILS |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Geostationary |
| Longitude | 72° West |
| Semi-major axis | 42,165 km (26,200 mi) |
| Eccentricity | 0.000280 |
| Perigee altitude | 35,782.4 km (22,234.2 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 35,806.1 km (22,248.9 mi) |
| Inclination | 0.1° |
| Period | 1,436.1 minutes |
| Epoch | February 2, 2017, 09:43:43 UTC[5] |
| Transponders | |
| Band | 24 C band, 24 Ku band[2] |
| Frequency | 36 MHz |
| Coverage area | North America[2] |
AMC-3 (formerly GE 3) is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES World Skies, part of SES S.A. (and formerly GE Americom, then SES Americom). Launched on September 4, 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, AMC-3 is a hybrid C-band/Ku-band satellite. It provides coverage to North and Central Americas, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. Located in a geostationary orbit parallel to the Yucatán Peninsula and Great Lakes, AMC-3 provides service to commercial and government customers, with programming distribution, satellite news gathering and broadcast internet capabilities.[6][7]
In January 2017, the AMC-3 Ku-band payload was sold to Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE), a provider of satellite-based connectivity and media to mobility markets, such as passenger aircraft. GEE purchased all the capacity on the satellite to support aeronautical customers, in particular Southwest Airlines, the company's largest customer, and rebranded the satellite as Eagle-1. The satellite will remain under the control of SES.[8]
Among other satellite TV channels, AMC-3 carries NASA TV.[9]
References
- ^ a b "GE 3". National Space Science Data Center. NASA. November 23, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ a b c "AMC-3 Data". SES World Skies. 2009. Archived from the original on June 4, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ "AMG 3". Satbeams.com. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Krebs, Gunter (September 27, 2009). "GE 1, 2, 3 / AMC 1, 2, 3". Skyrocket.de. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ "AMC-3 (GE-3) Satellite details". N2YO.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ "AMC-3". SES World Skies. 2009. Archived from the original on June 4, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ "Turner Expands SNG Transponder Deal With SES AMERICOM" (Press release). Business Wire via Redorbit.com. April 12, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ Henry, Caleb (January 16, 2017). "Global Eagle's mystery satellite purchase is SES's AMC-3". SpaceNews. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ "NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
In the United States, NASA Television's Public and Media channels are MPEG-2 digital C-band signals carried by QPSK/DVB-S modulation on satellite AMC-3, transponder 15C, at 87 degrees west longitude. Downlink frequency is 4000 MHz, horizontal polarization, with a data rate of 38.86 Mhz, symbol rate of 28.1115 Ms/s, and ¾ FEC. A Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) is needed for reception.
External links
- AMC-3 at SES.com
- Global Eagle Entertainment website
- C-band Americas Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
- Ku-band Americas Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
- AMC-3 information at LyngSat