Ekspress-80/103
7/30/2020
Express-103 carries the same number of C- and Ku-band transponders as Express-80 plus a single L-band transponder.
Express-80 carries 20 Ku-band transponders, 16 C-band transponders, and two L-band transponders.
Proton lifted off at 5:25 p.m. Eastern from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on an 18-hour mission to deploy the geostationary satellites Express-80 and Express-103.
The orbital slot at 80° E places Express-80 roughly over the geographic center of Russia.
The Proton-M/Briz-M combination was used for the Express-80 and Express-103 launches.
RSCC scheduled Express-80 and Express-103 to launch together on a Proton rocket in March 2020 but delayed the launch to the second half of 2020 because of technical issues with the rocket.
ISS Reshetnev built the Express-80 and Express-103 spacecraft using payloads supplied by Thales Alenia Space.