An Inuktitut word for an object or force that unites things or binds them together.
Nimiq 1 and 2 are a pair of high power Ku-band telecommunications satellites which provide
direct-broadcast television signals to the home market in Canada. The A2100-series satellites were built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, for Telesat Canada, a subsidiary of BCE Inc., and will carry programming for Bell ExpressVu, another BCE unit. Canadians are ecstatic over this unprecedented improvement in access to digital television. (Or, perhaps not.)
Telesat launched Anik A1, the world's first commercial communications satellite in an geostationary orbit, just over thirty years before, in November 1972.
Nimiq 2 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on January 6th, 2003 by International Launch Services. (ILS also launched Nimiq 1 in 1999.) Nimiq 2's final broadcast position will be near Nimiq 1 at 91 degrees West longitude. Video of the launch is available from the ILS website at http://www.ilslaunch.com.
The Nimiq satellites are "Ku/Ka-band satellites, feature 32 active 24 MHz Ku-band transponders with 120 watt power amplifiers, and Nimiq 2 also has a Ka-band payload that will provide broadband services.2" The Nimiq satellites have a minimum service life of 12 years.
Sources:
- Toronto's Metro Today "Tech Tuesday" page for January 7, 2002
- Gunter's Space page at: http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/nimiq-1.htm
- http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021202/lam049_1.html