OREANDA-NEWS. March 20, 2014. The Proton M ILV that lifted off at Baikonur Cosmodrome Moscow Time has delivered two domestic Express AT1/AT2 DTV satellites into orbit. The dual Express launch is the second Proton mission of 2014 and the 395th Proton heritage mission.

Both the lift-off and the ascent events proceeded nominally.  The orbital unit (made up of the satellite duo and a Breeze M Upper Stage) was then boosted by several Upper Stage’s burns to its target orbit.  The spacecraft/Upper Stage separation took place Sunday, March 16, at the predicted times.

The new satellites from the Express family are designed and built by Reshetnev ISS jointly with Thales Alenia Space of France for Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) under the Federal Space Program of Russia 2006 – 2015.  These spacecraft should provide up-to-date telecommunications, TV casting and data transmission services in Eastern and Western Russia as well as across the CIS.

The lift-off mass of Express AT1 built around the Express 1000N space bus was about 1800 kilograms whereas that of Express AT2 built around the Express 1000K space bus was about 1250 kilograms. The former will be stationed at 56° E and the latter at 140° E and each will have an expected lifetime of 15 years.

The Proton launch vehicle and the Breeze M Upper Stage are designed and mass produced by the Khrunichev Space Center, Moscow.