SES has announced that the SES-5 satellite has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where it will now be processed for launch aboard an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle provided by International Launch Services (ILS). The launch is scheduled for June 19th, 2012.

The SES-5 satellite was designed and built for SES by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a leading manufacturer of commercial satellites. The spacecraft, to be positioned at the orbital slot of 5 degrees East, features 36 active Ku-band transponders and up to 24 active C-band transponders.

It will feature two Ku-band beams, one serving customers in the Nordic and Baltic countries and the other one serving Sub-Saharan Africa as well as two C-band beams, one with global coverage and one with hemispheric coverage over Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The satellite provides Ka-band uplink capability, allowing for flexible operations between Europe and Africa.

SES-5 is designed to deliver high performance and extensive coverage for Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, broadband, maritime communications, GSM backhaul, and VSAT applications in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

SES-5 also features the first hosted L-band payload for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). The EGNOS payload, which was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC), will help verify, improve, and report on the reliability and accuracy of navigation positioning signals in Europe.

"Space Systems/Loral has been an important contributor to our recent fleet expansion," said Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer of SES. "We are pleased that SES-5 has arrived at the launch base safely and we look forward to another successful launch next month."

"This is the third satellite we have delivered to SES in the last nine months," said John Celli, President of Space Systems/Loral.

"We would like to thank SES for giving us the opportunity to build this complex spacecraft that combines multiple frequency bands and coverage areas to help SES bring entertainment and vital communications services to improve the human experience in several important regions."