SES Americom was a major commercial satellite

Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...

 operator based in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Formerly RCA Americom and GE Americom, the company became (with SES Astra

SES Astra

Astra is the name for the geostationary communication satellites, both individually and as a group, which are owned and operated by SES S.A., a global satellite operator based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg. The name is sometimes also used to describe the channels broadcasting from these...

 and SES New Skies

SES NEW SKIES

SES World Skies—formerly SES New Skies, New Skies Satellites , and SES Americom—is a Dutch operator of communications spacecraft, owned by SES.On 30 November 1998, several former Intelsat satellites were transferred to New Skies’ control...

) one of the principal parts of SES S.A..
, SES Americom was re-branded as SES World Skies along with SES New Skies

SES NEW SKIES

SES World Skies—formerly SES New Skies, New Skies Satellites , and SES Americom—is a Dutch operator of communications spacecraft, owned by SES.On 30 November 1998, several former Intelsat satellites were transferred to New Skies’ control...

.

Satellite Fleet

SES Americom operates the following satellites:

Satellite	Position	Manufacturer	Model	Launched	Launch vehicle	Comments
AMC-1	103°W 103rd meridian west The meridian 103° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	September 8, 1996	Atlas II Atlas II Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. Atlas II was the last Atlas to use a three engine, "stage-and-a-half" design: two of its three engines were jettisoned during ascent, but its fuel tanks and other... A
AMC-2	101°W 101st meridian west The meridian 101° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	January 30, 1997	Ariane 4 Ariane 4 Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. Ariane 4 was justly known as the ‘workhorse’ of the Ariane family. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the last, on 15 February 2003, it... 4L	replaced by SES-1
AMC-3	87°W 87th meridian west The meridian 87° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, Central America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	September 4, 1997	Atlas II Atlas II Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. Atlas II was the last Atlas to use a three engine, "stage-and-a-half" design: two of its three engines were jettisoned during ascent, but its fuel tanks and other... AS
AMC-4	101°W 101st meridian west The meridian 101° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100AX	November 13, 1999	Ariane 4 Ariane 4 Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. Ariane 4 was justly known as the ‘workhorse’ of the Ariane family. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the last, on 15 February 2003, it... 4LP	placed on reserve
AMC-5	79°W 79th meridian west The meridian 79° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, Central America, South America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.The 79th meridian west...	Alcatel Space	Spacebus Spacebus Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and fifty-two have been launched since development started in the 1980s. Spacebus was originally produced by...  2000	October 28, 1998	Ariane 4 Ariane 4 Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. Ariane 4 was justly known as the ‘workhorse’ of the Ariane family. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the last, on 15 February 2003, it... 4L
AMC-6	72°W 72nd meridian west The meridian 72° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, South America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100AX	October 22, 2000	Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... /DM-2
AMC-7	137°W 137th meridian west The meridian 137° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	September 14, 2000	Ariane 5 Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales... G
AMC-8 AMC-8 This article is about the artificial satellite. For the middle-school mathematics competition, see American Mathematics CompetitionsAMC-8, also known as Americom-8 and Aurora III, previously GE-8, is a C-band satellite located at 139° West, covering the United States, Canada and the Caribbean...	139°W 139th meridian west The meridian 139° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	December 19, 2000	Ariane 5 Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales... G
AMC-9	83°W 83rd meridian west The meridian 83° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, Central America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Alcatel Space	Spacebus 3000B3 Spacebus Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and fifty-two have been launched since development started in the 1980s. Spacebus was originally produced by...	June 7, 2003	Proton-K Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index, 8K82K, is a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and is launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan... /Briz-M Briz-M The Briz-M , is a Russian orbit insertion upper stage manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M rocket.- Characteristics :...
AMC-10	135°W 135th meridian west The meridian 135° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	February 5, 2004	Atlas II Atlas II Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. Atlas II was the last Atlas to use a three engine, "stage-and-a-half" design: two of its three engines were jettisoned during ascent, but its fuel tanks and other... AS
AMC-11	131°W 131st meridian west The meridian 131° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	May 19, 2004	Atlas II Atlas II Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. Atlas II was the last Atlas to use a three engine, "stage-and-a-half" design: two of its three engines were jettisoned during ascent, but its fuel tanks and other... AS
AMC-12	37.5°W	Alcatel Alenia Space	Spacebus 4000C3 Spacebus Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and fifty-two have been launched since development started in the 1980s. Spacebus was originally produced by...	Feb 3, 2005	Proton-M Proton-M The Proton-M, GRAU index 8K82M or 8K82KM, is a Russian carrier rocket derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services , and generally... /Briz-M Briz-M The Briz-M , is a Russian orbit insertion upper stage manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M rocket.- Characteristics :...	Renamed NSS-10
AMC-15	105°W 105th meridian west The meridian 105° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100AX	October 15, 2004	Proton-M Proton-M The Proton-M, GRAU index 8K82M or 8K82KM, is a Russian carrier rocket derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services , and generally... /Briz-M Briz-M The Briz-M , is a Russian orbit insertion upper stage manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M rocket.- Characteristics :...
AMC-16	85°W 85th meridian west The meridian 85° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, Central America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100AX	December 17, 2004	Atlas V Atlas V Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance...  (521)
AMC-18	105°W 105th meridian west The meridian 105° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100A	December 8, 2006	Ariane 5 Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales... -ECA	Replaced AMC-2 previously at 105°W
Satcom C3	79°W 79th meridian west The meridian 79° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, Central America, South America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.The 79th meridian west...	GE AstroSpace	GE-3000	September 10, 1992	Ariane 4 Ariane 4 Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. Ariane 4 was justly known as the ‘workhorse’ of the Ariane family. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the last, on 15 February 2003, it... 4LP	inclined orbit
AMC-14	61.5°W (planned)	Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....	A2100 A2100 The A2100 is a communications satellite spacecraft made by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for telecommunications in geosynchronous orbit.The Lockheed Martin A2100 geosynchronous spacecraft series is designed for a variety of telecommunications needs including Ka band broadband and broadcast...	March 14, 2008	Proton-M Proton-M The Proton-M, GRAU index 8K82M or 8K82KM, is a Russian carrier rocket derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services , and generally... /Briz-M Briz-M The Briz-M , is a Russian orbit insertion upper stage manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M rocket.- Characteristics :...	Launch failure
AMC-21	125°W 125th meridian west The meridian 125° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space is an aerospace company born after the Thales Group bought the participation of Alcatel in the two joint-ventures between Alcatel and Finmeccanica, Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio.-History:...  / Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...	STAR-2	2008-08-14	Ariane 5 Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales... -ECA
SES-1 SES-1 SES-1 is a Dutch geostationary communications satellite which is operated by SES World Skies. It was originally ordered by SES Americom as a ground spare for AMC-5R, however in April 2008 a decision was made to launch it, and it was named AMC-1R. It was subsequently renamed AMC-4R, and finally...	101°W 101st meridian west The meridian 101° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...	STAR-2	April 24, 2010	Proton-M Proton-M The Proton-M, GRAU index 8K82M or 8K82KM, is a Russian carrier rocket derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services , and generally...	Formerly AMC-5R, replaced AMC-2 and AMC-4.
Planned:
SES-3	103°W 103rd meridian west The meridian 103° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....	Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...	STAR-2	H1 2011	Ariane 5 Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales... -ECA	Formerly AMC-1R

History

RCA American Communications (RCA Americom) was founded in 1975 as an operator of RCA Astro Electronics-built satellites. The company's first satellite; Satcom 1

Satcom (satellite)

The Satcom series was a family of communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications . Satcom was one of the early geostationary satellites; the first were the Syncom series, in 1964. The first Satcom satellite, Satcom 1, was launched on December 13, 1975...

, was launched on December 12, 1975. Satcom 1 was one of the earliest geostationary satellites.

Satcom 1 was instrumental in helping early cable TV channels (such as Superstation TBS and CBN

Christian Broadcasting Network

The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...

) to become initially successful, because these channels distributed their programming to all of the local cable TV headends using the satellite. Additionally, it was the first satellite used by broadcast TV networks in the United States, like ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, and CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, to distribute their programming to all of their local affiliate stations. The reason that Satcom 1 was so widely used is that it had twice the communications capacity of the competing Westar 1

Westar 1

Westar 1 was America's first domestic and commercially launched geostationary communications satellite, launched by Western Union and NASA on April 13, 1974. It was built by Hughes for Western Union, using the HS-333 platform of spin-stabilized satellites. Westar 1 was the first of five Westar...

 (24 transponders as opposed to Westar 1’s 12), which resulted in lower transponder usage costs.

14 more (increasingly sophisticated) Satcom satellites would enter service from 1976 to 1992. In 1986 General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 acquired RCA and renamed the Americom unit GE American Communications (GE Americom). From 1996 new satellites were named in the GE-# series, i.e. GE-1 in 1996, GE-2 in 1997 etc.

SES purchase

In 2001 SES Global was formed by SES for the $4.3 billion acquisition of GE Americom, which was completed in November of that year. SES Global was established as the group management company; with the renamed SES Americom and SES Astra as subsidiaries.

After the acquisition of GE Americom by SES, all the satellites previously named with the GE-# prefix were renamed to AMC-# (i.e., GE-1 renamed to AMC-1, and so on).

The President and CEO of SES Americom was Edward Horowitz. He has recently left the company and SES Americom was placed under Robert Bednarek, the President and CEO of SES New Skies.

In September 2009, SES Americom and SES New Skies were re-branded SES World Skies.

External links

• SES Americom Official site