AMC-6

AMC-6
Names	GE-6 (1997-2001); AMC-6 (2001-present); Rainbow 2 (2004-present)
Mission type	Communications
Operator	GE Americom (2000-2001); SES Americom (2001-2009); SES World Skies (2009-2011); SES (2011-present)
COSPAR ID	2000-067A
SATCAT no.	26580
Website	AMC-6 website
Mission duration	15 years (planned); 24 years, 1 month (elapsed)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	GE-6
Bus	A2100AX
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin
Launch mass	3,909 kg (8,618 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	21 October 2000, 22:00:00 UTC
Rocket	Proton-K / DM3
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 81/23
Contractor	Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Geostationary orbit
Longitude	72° West
Transponders
Band	52 transponders:; 24 C-band; 28 Ku-band
Frequency	36 MHz; 72 MHz (4 Ku-band)
Coverage area	North America, Greenland, Latin America
	SES constellation ← AMC-5 AMC-7 →

AMC-6, formerly GE-6, is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES Launched on 21 October 2000, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, AMC-6 became the fifth hybrid C-band / Ku-band satellite in the GE Americom fleet. The satellite provides coverage to the continental United States, Canada, the Caribbean islands, southern Greenland, and Latin America. Located in a geostationary orbit parallel to the eastern United States coastline, AMC-6 provides service to commercial and government customers, and is used as an Internet platform due to its wide coverage, scale and redundancy. Some of its capabilities include Very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) networking, satellite news gathering and Ku-band transceiver service.^[5] Launched as GE-6, it was renamed AMC-6 when SES took over GE Americom in 2001, forming SES Americom. This merged with SES New Skies in 2009 to form SES World Skies.^[6]

Rainbow 2

Rainbow Media announced in November 2004, that it will utilize 16 transponders on the AMC-6 satellite, which VOOM refers to as Rainbow 2.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "Display: GE 6 2000-067A". NASA. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "Satellite Manufacturing Special - The time factor" (PDF). Satellite Evolution. September–October 2004. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Krebs, Gunter (12 April 2019). "GE 4, 6 / AMC 4, 6 / Rainbow 2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
^ "AMC-6 (GE-6)". N2YO.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Satellite Data". SES World Skies. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
^ "SES Americom-New Skies Satellite Division Re-Brands as SES World Skies". Reuters. 7 September 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2012.

External links

AMC-6 website
C-band Americas Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
Ku-band Americas Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
AMC-6 information at LyngSat

[nssdc-1] "Display: GE 6 2000-067A". NASA. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[se-sms-2] "Satellite Manufacturing Special - The time factor" (PDF). Satellite Evolution. September–October 2004. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2021.

[skyrocket-3] Krebs, Gunter (12 April 2019). "GE 4, 6 / AMC 4, 6 / Rainbow 2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 3 April 2021.

[n2yo-4] "AMC-6 (GE-6)". N2YO.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.

[ses-amc6-5] "Satellite Data". SES World Skies. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2021.

[6] "SES Americom-New Skies Satellite Division Re-Brands as SES World Skies". Reuters. 7 September 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2012.

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v t e Satellites operated by SES
SES fleet	Active: SES-1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (EchoStar 105) 12 14 15 16 (GovSat-1) 17
AMC fleet	Active: AMC-4 6 8 10 11 15 16 18 21 Backups: AMC-7 Retired: AMC-1 2 3 5 9 Failed launch: AMC-14
NSS fleet	Active: NSS-6 7 9 10 11 12 806 Retired: NSS-5 513 703 K Failed launch: NSS-8
Astra fleet	Active: Astra 1KR 1L 1M 1N 2E 2F 2G 3B 4A 5B Backups: Astra 1D 1F 1G 1H 2A 2B 2C 2D 3A To be activated: Astra 1P Retired: Astra 1A 1B 1C 1E 5A Sirius 3 Failed launch: Astra 1K Orbital positions: 5.0°E 19.2°E 23.5°E 28.2°E 31.5°E Subsidiary: SES Astra
Third parties	Active: Ciel-2 MonacoSAT QuetzSat 1 Yahsat 1A

v t e ← 1999 Orbital launches in 2000 2001 →
January	USA-148 Galaxy 10R Feng Huo 1 JAWSAT, FalconSAT-1, ASUSat-1, OCSE, OPAL (STENSAT, MEMS 1A, MEMS 1B, MASAT, Thelma, Louise)
February	Progress M1-1 Kosmos 2369 Hispasat 1C Globalstar 60, Globalstar 62, Globlastar 63, Globalstar 64 Gruzovoy Maket, IRDT-1 ASTRO-E STS-99 Garuda 1 Superbird-B2
March	Ekspress A2 MTI ICO F1 Dumsat INSAT-3B, AsiaStar IMAGE
April	Soyuz TM-30 SESAT 1 Galaxy 4R Progress M1-2
May	GOES 11 Kosmos 2370 USA-149 USA-150 SimSat 1, SimSat 2 STS-101 Eutelsat W4
June	Gorizont No.45L TSX-5 Ekspress A3 Fengyun 2B, Nadezhda 6, Tsinghua 1, SNAP-1 TDRS-8 Sirius FM-1
July	Kosmos 2371 Zvezda EchoStar VI CHAMP, MITA, Rubin-1 USA-151 Samba, Salsa Sindri (MEMS 2A, MEMS 2B) PAS-9
August	Progress M1-3 Rumba, Tango Brazilsat B4, Nilesat 102 USA-152 DM-F3 Globus No.16L
September	Zi Yuan 2 Sirius FM-2 Eutelsat W1 STS-106 Astra 2B GE-7 NOAA-16 Kosmos 2372 Megsat 1, Unisat 1, Saudisat 1A, Saudisat 1B, TiungSAT-1 Kosmos 2373
October	GE-1A N-SAT-110 HETE-2 STS-92 (ITS Z1, PMA-3) Kosmos 2374, Kosmos 2375, Kosmos 2376 Progress M-43 USA-153 Thuraya 1 GE-6 Europe*Star 1 Beidou 1A Soyuz TM-31
November	USA-154 PAS-1R, AMSAT-P3D, STRV 1C, STRV 1D Progress M1-4 QuickBird-1 EO-1, SAC-C, Munin Anik F1 Sirius FM-3
December	STS-97 (ITS P6) EROS A USA-155 Astra 2D, GE-8, LDREX Beidou 1B Gonets-D1 No.7, Gonets-D1 No.8, Gonets-D1 No.9, Strela-3 No.125, Strela-3 No.126, Strela-3 No.127
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).

Spacecraft properties
Names	GE-6 (1997-2001) AMC-6 (2001-present) Rainbow 2 (2004-present)

Mission type	Communications^[1]
Operator	GE Americom (2000-2001) SES Americom (2001-2009) SES World Skies (2009-2011) SES (2011-present)
COSPAR ID	2000-067A
SATCAT no.	26580
Website	AMC-6 website
Mission duration	15 years (planned) 24 years, 1 month (elapsed)


Spacecraft	GE-6
Bus	A2100AX^[2]
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin
Launch mass	3,909 kg (8,618 lb) ^[3]


Start of mission
Launch date	21 October 2000, 22:00:00 UTC
Rocket	Proton-K / DM3^[3]
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 81/23^[1]^[3]
Contractor	Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center


Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit^[4]
Regime	Geostationary orbit
Longitude	72° West ^[5]


Transponders
Band	52 transponders: 24 C-band 28 Ku-band
Frequency	36 MHz 72 MHz (4 Ku-band)
Coverage area	North America, Greenland, Latin America^[5]

SES constellation ← AMC-5 AMC-7 →