First Proton-M This Year to Blast Off From Baikonur Monday

MOSCOW. Jan 27 (Interfax-AVN) – A Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M upper stage and the Russian telecommunications satellite Express- AM33, is to be launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, early on Monday.

“The launch is set for 3:17 a.m. Moscow time, on January 28,” officials with the Khrunichev state space research and production center, the manufacturer of the Proton-M launch vehicle and Briz-M upper stage, told Interfax-AVN.

Satellites of the Express series are made by the Reshetnev research and production corporation in cooperation with Thales Alenia Space, with Reshetnev in charge of the satellite platform and Thales Alenia Space’s French division – the payload module.

The new satellite differs from the previous satellites of the Express-AM series in that it has a greater output rating and new antennas.

The satellite’s launch weight is about 2,600 kilograms and its minimal guaranteed service life in orbit is 12 years. The satellite will provide communication, TV broadcast, multimedia, data transmission, and mobile governmental and presidential communication services.

The customers are Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos,) the Russian Information and Communications Ministry and the Space Communications wholly-owned state company.

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