EchoStar XV

EchoStar XV is an American geostationary communications satellite which is operated by EchoStar. It is positioned in geostationary orbit, and will be located at a longitude of 61.5° West, from where it is intended to provide direct broadcasting of high-definition television services to the continental United States and Puerto Rico for Dish Network.[2][3]

EchoStar XV was built by Space Systems/Loral, and is based on the LS-1300 satellite bus. It is equipped with 32 J band (IEEE K_u band) transponders,[2] and at launch it had a mass of 5,521 kilograms (12,172 lb). It has a design life of fifteen years,;[3] however, it is carrying enough fuel for around twenty years of operations.[4] It has a common configuration with EchoStar XI and EchoStar XVI.[5]

The launch of EchoStar XV was conducted by International Launch Services, using a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M upper stage. The launch occurred from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 18:40 UTC on 10 July 2010.[6] The launch successfully placed EchoStar XV into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.[3] Following separation from the rocket, it manoeuvred into a geostationary orbit with a perigee of 35,781 kilometres (22,233 mi) and an apogee of 35,805 kilometres (22,248 mi).[7]