MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax-AVN) - A Russian satellite due to be put into orbit at 0445 GMT on October 30 will offer a wide range of communications services.
The Express AM-1 satellite blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 0211 GMT on October 29. It was taken into space by a Proton K launcher rocket. The launch went smoothly, a Federal Space Agency spokesman told Interfax.
Services to be offered by the Express AM-1 include digital television and radio broadcasting, telephone communications, video conferencing, data transmission, and broadband Internet access.
The satellite will also be used to build up communications nets based on very small aperture terminals (VSATs).
Express AM series satellites, the most powerful Russian spacecraft of their class, are designed to modernize the Russian satellite system under a program spanning the period from 2002 to 2005. But they can also provide services to other countries.
The Express AM-1 is the third satellite in the Express AM series. It has been developed by Russia's NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki and the Japanese firm NEC/Toshiba Space Systems under a contract with the Russian Satellite Communications Company (Kosmicheskaya Svyaz), a state enterprise.