Russia's Proton-M Rocket To Launch Yamal-601 Satellite Into Orbit In Spring - Developer

Russia's Proton-M rocket will launch the Yamal-601 telecommunications satellite into orbit this coming spring, the rocket's manufacturer, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2018) Russia's Proton-M rocket will launch the Yamal-601 telecommunications satellite into orbit this coming spring, the rocket's manufacturer, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, reported on Tuesday.

"The experts appreciated the launch equipment and technical systems. They also noted the comfortable conditions in the finishing workshop where work on the Yamal-601 spacecraft will be done. Its launch atop the Proton-M vehicle is scheduled for spring 2019," the center's deputy director general for foreign economic activity, Andrey Pankratov, said.

The Yamal-601 was ordered by the Russian satellite communications operator Gazprom Space Systems from Information Satellite Systems - Reshetnev (ISS-Reshetnev). It contains components supplied by European company Thales Alenia Space.

Ahead of the satellite's launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the spaceport was visited by representatives of Gazprom Space Systems and Thales Alenia Space.

The Yamal-601 is designed to replace the Yamal-202 satellite curerntly in orbit. Its service area will be the European part of Russia, including the Kaliningrad region, the Urals, and Western Siberia. It will operate in C- and Ku-bands, covering the visible part of Russia, the CIS countries, Europe, the middle East and part of Southeast Asia, and providing services to the corporate sector, regional administrations, small businesses and individuals.

On October 15, the Sogaz insurance company said it had insured the Yamal-601 for 301 million Euros ($339 million) in ruble equivalent.