SES World Skies’ SES-1 satellite has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch atop an ILS Proton Breeze M rocket on 24 April 2010.

The geostationary communication satellite, built by Orbital Sciences on its Star 2.4 platform, has a design life of 15 years.

The spacecraft will carry 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders of 36MHz capacity each, and six of the channels in each band can be cross-strapped to the opposite band for a new service capability.

The SES-1 satellite will replace SES’ existing AMC-2 and AMC-4 satellites at 101 degrees west and provide coverage over North America.

The satellite, along with SES-2 and SES-3 still being developed, will provide services to important locations over the USA in both C-band and Ku-Band.