Two local firms have a hand in a satellite planned for launch today to service DirecTV customers.
The satellite, DirecTV-10, was built by Rosslyn-based Boeing Satellite Systems International, and is being launched off a McLean-based International Launch Services Proton rocket. The values of Boeing’s and ILS’s contracts with DirecTV were not disclosed by the firms.
The satellite launch is one of 20 to 25 commercial satellite launches expected to occur worldwide by the end of 2007, Boeing Satellite Systems President Stephen T. O’Neill said during a teleconference Tuesday.
The launch is planned for this afternoon from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia.
A second satellite, DirectTV-11, which will perform complementary functions, is scheduled for launch by the end of this year, Boeing spokesman Eric Warren said.
DirecTV’s latest satellite will produce additional local content in areas not already served by the provider, as well as 100 national high-definition channels, spokesman Robert Mercer said Thursday. The D.C. area already receives local programming, Mercer added.
Boeing has built satellites for DirecTV since 1994, O’Neill said during the conference. It is the third satellite ILS will launch for DirecTV and its second satellite launch of the year.
