Launch Vehicle: Proton M/Breeze M
Weight at liftoff: 691,272 kg (1.5 million lbs), including payload
Height: 61 m (200 ft)

Launch Date: Dec. 6, 2005 (Baikonur, GMT)
Dec. 5, 2005 (U.S.)

Launch Window Opens: 8:28 a.m. Baikonur
2:28 GMT
9:28 p.m. EST

Launch Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launch Pad 39

Launch Customer: SES AMERICOM, Princeton, N.J.
Part of SES GLOBAL family of companies

Satellite Manufacturer: Alcatel Alenia Space

Launch Vehicle Manufacturer: Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, Moscow

Launch Services Provider: International Launch Services (ILS), McLean, Va.

Satellite Use: AMC-23 is a high-power hybrid C/Ku-band satellite that will serve local, transcontinental and transoceanic customers throughout the Pacific Region, including North America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the islands of the South Pacific.

Satellite Statistics:
– 2nd Spacebus 4000 to be launched by ILS
– 20 Ku-band transponders
– 18 C-band transponders
– Orbital location: 172 degrees East longitude

Mission Profile: The Proton launch vehicle will inject the satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, using a five-burn Breeze M mission design. The first three stages of the Proton will use a standard ascent trajectory to place the Breeze M fourth stage, with the satellite, into a suborbital trajectory, from which the Breeze M will place itself and the spacecraft into a support or reference orbit of 173 km (107 miles), inclined at 51.5 degrees. Then the satellite will be propelled to its transfer orbit by additional burns of the Breeze M. Following separation from the Breeze M, the spacecraft will perform a series of liquid apogee engine burns to raise perigee, lower inclination and circularize the orbit at the geostationary altitude of 36,000 km (22,300 miles).

Target Orbit at Separation:
Apogee: 35,786 km (22,236 miles)
Perigee: 6,400 km (3,977 miles)
Inclination: 18.3

Spacecraft Separation: Approximately 9 hours, 20 minutes after liftoff

ILS Mission Statistics:
– 4th ILS Proton mission this year
– 11th launch by ILS vehicle for SES AMERICOM fleet
– 35th ILS mission on Proton
– 317th Proton mission overall

NEWS MEDIA ACTIVITIES

Live Broadcast in U.S.:
AMC-4, transponder 17 C-band, 101 degrees West, downlink 4040 MHz (vertical), analog.

Test signals start at 8:30 pm EST.

In Europe, Russia & Kazakhstan: New Skies NSS-7, transponder NAH1/EUH9, Channel 1, Ku-band; 338 degrees East; bandwidth 9 MHz; FEC 3/4; downlink 12509.5 MHz (horizontal); symbol rate 6.1113.

Test signals start at 01:30 GMT.

More Information: Webcast and general mission information are available on the ILS web site at www.ilslaunch.com. Launch status updates are available on the ILS U.S. domestic Launch Hotline at 1-800-852-4980.