Space Systems/Loral Completes DIRECTV 8 Two Months Early

[bleodler]

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced today that it has successfully completed all assembly, integration and tests of the DIRECTV 8 satellite, more than two months ahead of the contracted schedule. This progress was capped recently by the successful completion of the pre-shipment readiness reviews held in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Ka-band payload will use the full 1,000 MHz of Ka-band communications bandwidth available to link DIRECTV facilities as part of DIRECTV's dramatic infrastructure development for the upcoming launch of local digital and high definition services in the Ka-band.

Full article here: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050223/nyw046_1.html

 

[rad]

Cool, now I wonder if this will just mean D8 will just site in a closet (a very clean one) until the original launch date or can that be moved up a tad also???

 

[slacker9876]

Anyone having knowledge of the process involving moving up a launch schedule please oh please let us know! Then there is also the factors of getting the operations centers ready too ... training and all. Please do tell.

This is great news!

 

[hdtvtechno]

Cool come on directv put it to work now

 

[Seanb61]

What is it that you guys think they will put on this sat? it is not the sat for HD locals. That is spaceway, built by Boeing. why do you guys care so much? we don't even know yet what they will actually use it for. I could be back up or replacement.

 

[charper1]

It appears to be an upgraded replacement and/or more SD and local retransmissions to me, but we wont know for sure until they activate it: http://www.loral.com/inthenews/031001.html

 

[rad]

That is spaceway, built by Boeing. why do you guys care so much?

Because it's a nice new shinney toy and I like new toys. Actually it's nice to have something new to talk about on D*, hard to find something in all the Voom posts around here.

 

[bleodler]

The KU portion is supposed to replace D* 2. I think this is the first official news that D* 8 has KA ability, up until now it has just been rumored. So that means this year D* will have Spaceway 1&2 and now also D* 8 with KA and according to Dan Collins at dbstalk, it will most likely be used for HD.
http://www.dbsforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=342749#post342749

It is EXTREMELY unlikely (I almost want to say impossible) that DirecTV would use Ka for anything but HD. The number of receivers that would have to be replaced to deploy any non-HD service over Ka is staggering. Even if they left it to the consumer to upgrade to get the added services, there would be so few users as to make it pointless. Therefore, I believe that SD services will remain on Ku/MPEG-2 for the forseeable future. Ka and MPEG-4 will be used only for HD.

 

[beast37799]

its a possibility that the ka portion will be used for national hd um does this sat go to 101 location

 

[Alan Gordon]

its a possibility that the ka portion will be used for national hd um does this sat go to 101 location

This satellite does indeed go to 101. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it's KA abilities.

~Alan

 

[Barney]

I remember reading once about a Co that was to launch one of D* SATs a few years ago. It was nice to see the time of the "payload" loaded onto the ship, the time it took the ship to get to its location in the Pacific for launch. Interesting & exciting.
Is this how its done now, on a ship in the Pacific? Just wondering...

Barney

 

[rcman2]

I remember reading once about a Co that was to launch one of D* SATs a few years ago. It was nice to see the time of the "payload" loaded onto the ship, the time it took the ship to get to its location in the Pacific for launch. Interesting & exciting.
Is this how its done now, on a ship in the Pacific? Just wondering...

Barney

Not this time: "Spring Proton • DIRECTV 8
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

An ILS Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage will launch the DIRECTV 8 direct-to-home television broadcasting spacecraft. The Loral-built satellite will be used to provide services across the U.S. for DIRECTV subscribers"

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/

 

[slacker9876]

What is it that you guys think they will put on this sat? it is not the sat for HD locals. That is spaceway, built by Boeing. why do you guys care so much? we don't even know yet what they will actually use it for. I could be back up or replacement.

I am hoping that they use it for good 'ol decompression.

 

[Inspect'rGadget]

More likely than not the the bird will launch at or near it's scheduled launch slot.

Launches are very tightly scheduled, and generally not subject to change forward.