AKA: Americom;GE;SES.
Launch delayed from December 2002, then to February 10, 2003, then to February 28, March 15, April 28 and May 19. Finally moved forward from June 12 and 7. Upper stage changed from DM3 after several failures. The fifth burn of the Briz-M upper stage placed the spacecraft in a geostationary transfer orbit of 6,445 km x 35,674 km x 17.2 deg. The satellite used its own engine to place itself in geosynchronous orbit at apogee. Alcatel Spacebus 3000B3 with C and Ku band communications for North America from a geotationary position of 72 deg W. Americom at the time of launch had become a subsidiary of Societe Europeene des Satellites (SES), Luxembourg, which operated the European Astra satellie constellation. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 83.02W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.
Americom 10 (AMC-10) was a replacement satellite for Satcom C3. It was to be located at 135 deg W. The C-band satellite, to be accompanied by AMC-11 later in 2004, were designed to support SES Americom's cable network in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico. The satellite had a design life of 15 years and carried 24 x 36 MHz C-band transponders. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 134.97W drifting at 0.005E degrees per day.
Communications satellite for SES Americom, equipped with Ku-band and Ka-band transponders. The Briz-M upper stage made three burns, then released the satellite on October 15 at 03:58 GMT into a 7132 x 35780 km x 18.6 deg orbit. AMC-15's on-board engine would be used to maneuver the spacecraft into its final geostationary orbit. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 105.02W drifting at 0.003W degrees per day.
AMC-16, like AMC-15, was a hybrid Ku/Ka-band satellite built by Lockheed Martin and based on the A2100 spacecraft platform. The spacecraft was to become operational in early 2005 from 85º West with a 15 year design life. The satellite carried 24 x 36 MHz/140 W Ku-band transponders and 12 x 125MHz/75 W spot beams. Coverage included the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. Launch was delayed from December 6 and 16. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 118.75W drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.
Delayed from November, December 1 and 6. AMC-23 was to provide Ku-band multimedia and telecommunications services to Pacific rim countries over a planned 16 year life. A C-band payload was partly leased to the Japanese JSAT system. The Briz-M upper stage separated from the three-stage Proton launch vehicle at suborbital velocity, then conducted five engine burns before delivering the satellite to a 6193 km x 35,615 km x 18.5 deg geosynchronous transfer orbit at 11:48 GMT. The satellite would use its own Astrium S400 apogee engine to circularize the orbit at geostationary altitude. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 171.97E drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.
The Briz M stage failed during its second burn, shutting down by 2 minutes 13 seconds early, leaving the satellite in a 770 km x 26447 km x 49.2 deg orbit. The spacecraft separated and raised this to 772 km x 35576 km x 49.0 deg, but operational geostationary orbit could not be attained and the satellite was a writeoff. AMC 14 had a total mass at launch of 4140 kg of which 2130 kg was propellant. The final orbit attained was an inclined orbit at geostationary altitude.