Liftoff occurred on February 28 at 10:51 pm EST off the Sea Launch Odyssey Launch Platform in open waters of the Pacific Ocean on the equator. The XM-3 satellite was inserted into a geosynchronoustransfer orbit, on its way to an orbital location for routine testing prior to placement in its final orbital position at 85 degrees West Longitude. A ground station in South Africa acquired thespacecraft’s first signal an hour after liftoff, as planned.
Built by Boeing Satellite Systems, the XM-3 satellite is a Boeing 702 spacecraft, one of the most powerful satellites built today, designed to provide 18 kilowatts of total power at beginning of life. Like its sister spacecraft, XM-1 and XM-2 – also launched by Sea Launch – XM-3 will transmit more than 150 channels of digital-quality music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children’s programming to subscribers nationwide.
