Space Systems/Loral has been awarded the contract by Sirius to build their sixth satellite.
Sirius FM-6, which is the crafty name for the new bird, will be a high-power satellite designed to operate in a highly inclined elliptical orbit.
Based on SS/L's 1300 platform, the Sirius FM-6 satellite will provide nearly double the power of Sirius' other satellites in orbit. Sirius FM-6 is scheduled to be completed in 2010 and will provide over 15 years of service life.
Sirius announced last year that SS/Loral would be building their next satellite - Sirius FM-5. Sirius FM-5 is to be a geostationary satellite (similar to XM's setup... incidentally SS/Loral is building the XM-5 satellite as well) and would be used to augment the constellation. The introduction of Sirius FM-6 is proof positive that Sirius intends to continue with it's current highly inclined elliptical orbit constellation setup.
Sirius did not announce the launch provider for the new satellite.
In the CC, Sirius said that FM-6 could be repurposed for use in a GEO orbit.
The big story is the extra power. Doubling the power output from this constellation (along with an effective near tripling of power thanks to FM-5 being closer to the Earth) will dramatically improve reception, possibly enough so that Sirius could free up bandwidth by reducing redundancy in the bitstream.
i dont think siri would be sending up another sat if they did not plan to expand their video service. i mean with mp3 and wimaxx being audio options into the futre i just dont see siri spending this kind of scratch on the audio market. to me this as all about siri video in the future.
OK WHY would SIRI buy a sixth satellite NOW?? Perhaps they don't think the merger will really happen? This couldn't wait three months? I wonder...
>>> The big story is the extra power. Doubling the power output from this constellation (along with an effective near tripling of power thanks to FM-5 being closer to the Earth) will dramatically improve reception, possibly enough so that Sirius could free up bandwidth by reducing redundancy in the bitstream.
What a crock. Which "redundancy" do you think it will "free up"?
Sirius has been operating without in-orbit insurance now for a couple years. I suspect they are having the good sense to realize that the position is untenable. At any rate, get ready to bump the depreciation by $17M/year. Now, if they could only muster the money to create backup broadcast facilities like XM!!!
And then some other guy thinks it is "about siri video". And you wonder why people call you guys Siriots?
if they could only muster the money to create backup broadcast facilities like XM!!!
Where were these backup facilities when XM went dead a couple months ago for days?
I'm not aware that XM has ever had any need to call on their backup broadcast facilities.
I am aware that Sirius has had chronic reception problems for many people for years. Now, two satellites later, MAYBE they will have some of these issues resolved.
StackPointer: XM's satellites were geostationary, looked good on paper, and couldn't receive on one end of a mountain. Sirius's satellites were elliptical, at a greater altitude and was meant for car use.
I'm not aware that Sirius had one satellite outage.
I'm not aware of Sirius having any satellite outages either.
But it is indisputable that many, many Sirius customers have had chronic reception issues, requiring re-aiming their antennas every couple of hours. XM certainly never suffered these kinds of issues.
Should Sirius lose a satellite, they would be devastated and would be dead in the water for a significant fraction of every day until a spare could be launched.. Having an in-orbit spare makes good sense for them. But it is another $250 Million they don't have.
But I'm not buying that the satellite gives them enough additional bits to make it worth 1/4 billion. That's just Siriot BS.
Stackpointer, hows that gay cruise with Rosie going? hope you get skirvy!
But it is indisputable that many, many Sirius customers have had chronic reception issues, requiring re-aiming their antennas every couple of hours. XM certainly never suffered these kinds of issues.
I've had chronic reception problems during driving when using XM. I'm talking about car use here, where >90% of satellite radio listening is.
Should Sirius lose a satellite, they would be devastated and would be dead in the water for a significant fraction of every day until a spare could be launched..
All it would do for them is lose a bar or two off the radios, (and yes only one satellite broadcasting at a time would classify as "chronic reception issues") and they already have a ground spare to start.
Forgot to add I have Sirius on nearly all day and I've never had to refocus my antenna... always sits there on top of a bookcase.
I was amazed visiting relatives in NJ (vs where I live in AZ with XM) how bad the Sirius signal was driving down the Turnpike. Seemed like the signal dropped out at every overpass, and some of the overhead signs. I know a lot of that it caused by not having the forward error correction XM uses, but I wouldn't want to have to keep readjusting antennas.
As to why they're doing this if they're trying to merge, I think technically they're supposed to continue functioning as they would were the merger not approved, that way if it doesn't happen they're not committed to anything irrelevant.
Had XM done the more logical thing and left one new and one old bird at each position, instead of dumping both XM-1 and XM-2 on the east coast, we might not have had the signal issues we had a while back. Seems like they should have been able to bring the old bird back up temporarily, but I don't know if the FCC and powers that be would allow them to do something like that without either prior approval to operate at a lower power from a half-degree-off slot, or an STA of some sort.
We need to go easy on StackPointer (Frontmed) as he sees the end of his purpose in life.
BTW, since the Stiletto update earlier this week affording 128kbps via Wifi, I have a Stiletto home dock that is only used for charging now. Well, I guess I better keep it around in case there is a "devastating catastrophe" and the internets go down.
>>>> As to why they're doing this if they're trying to merge, I think technically they're supposed to continue functioning as they would were the merger not approved, that way if it doesn't happen they're not committed to anything irrelevant.
I'm sure there is a logical explanation for it. However, it would seem that these two additional satellite launches would be influenced in some way by the outcome of the merger. It certainly flies in the face of the idea that any real synergies might be produced in this area of the financials prior to the full depreciation of these new satellites 15 years hence; if there were going to be savings in satellite infrastructure, now would be the time to be re-thinking upcoming launches.
highly inclined elliptical orbit.
This shows that Sirius is not going to change what works best.
Satellites over the equator like XM uses have a advantage sometimes but overall the way sirius does it is far better.
As far as l droupouts with a underpas and people complaining about that that is the way it has to be. Just like the sun is blocked in a underpass. Maybe those same people wonder why food does not cook if it is placed next to a microwave oven.
Forget about how much more band width or anything else. One person here asked Why now? OK.. Video support. Sirius can use these birds for that Exclusively and put all music on XM birds or anything else they wish to do post merger (if it happens)
more importantly.... Sirius has substantial finantial obligations and huge amouts of convertable debt comming due over the next 4 years. Now they are buying a second Satelite? The Sat Rad market is not as big as they are spending. I see an investors train wreck aproaching