Ekspress-AM33

Ekspress-AM33 is a Russian domestic communications satellite. It belongs to the Russian Satellite Communications Company based in Moscow, Russia. To provide of communications services and to deploy satellite networks by applying Very-small-aperture terminal technology to Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and the Middle East.

Satellite description

The satellite has a total of 17 transponders, was 10 C-band, 6 Ku-band and 1 L-band transponders. The Ekspress-AM33 Russian domestic communications satellite, built by Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev for Kosmicheskaya Svyaz. The communications payload was built by the French company Thales Alenia Space.

Launch

Ekspress-AM33 was launched by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, using a Proton-M / Briz-M launch vehicle. The launch took place at 00:18:00 UTC on 28 January 2008, from Site 200/39 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Successfully deployed into geostationary transfer orbit, Ekspress-AM33 raised itself into an operational geostationary orbit using its apogee motor.

Mission

Express-AM33 was launched into orbit on 28 January 2008. The commercial operation of the satellite started on 14 April 2008. The Ekspress-103 satellite entered in service at orbital position 96.5° East on 25 March 2021, where it replaced Ekspress-AM33.