It's a beautiful July day in scenic Baikonur, Kazakhstan, with light winds, clear skies and a temperature hovering around 71°F. The conditions are perfect to facilitate the area's unique industry — launching satellites into space. The rocket-launching business at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome got its start in the Soviet space program, which was based here. These days, though, two of its three launch pads are dedicated to commercial missions. Today's payload is DIRECTV 10, the most technologically sophisticated satellite the company has ever launched. It's about to hit the heavens — but not without a formal blessing. In an endearing new local custom, destined to become more popular than Borat's "Running of the Jews," a triumvirate of Russian Orthodox priests is on hand to pray for a successful launch. They sprinkle holy water on the team and the Russian-made Proton rocket.
The Big Guy in the sky appears to have been on board: D10 launched without a hitch. After separating from the rocket, the satellite, a Boeing 702, powered itself to 23,000 miles above the equator, reaching its home at 103 degrees longitude nine hours after liftoff. The choice location, due south of Kansas, offers the best possible transmission coverage for the entire United States. And there, D10 took its place among the 873 other functional satellites floating in space.
D10 then deployed its antennae and solar panels, and the ground-based engineering crew began the long process of testing its systems to prepare for the task of showering customers with HD. To ensure the continuous transmission of programming, the spacecraft must maintain its exact position at all times, which is why it moves in geostationary orbit (translation: It stays in one place in the sky relative to the Earth). When and if D10 does wander, small remote-controlled thrusters bring it back to its assigned orbit.
One of the world's largest communications satellites (nearly six tons), D10 is now ready to blanket America (including Alaska and Hawaii) with more than 100 high-definition national channels by the end of 2007. With a wingspan of 157 feet, the satellite carries more than 100 high-power transporters, the devices responsible for receiving and retransmitting data. D10 broadcasts at a new frequency, opening up a whole new spectrum to the service. And that's just stage one of the mission; next year, an identical satellite, D11, will be launched (it'll be the company's ninth active satellite due to older orbiters being retired), upping the HD currency even more. Between both birds, the channel roster will get an extra 150 national and more than 1,500 local feeds — all in high-def.
Meanwhile, technology on the ground is advancing to keep pace. DIRECTV has built new broadcast sites to deliver the expanded content up to the satellite. "We're giving programmers a platform to deliver to every household in the U.S. that has our service — more than 16 million homes," says Pat Loner, DIRECTV's director of satellite development engineering. "That makes it a lot more attractive for them to come up with the content. 'If you build it, it will come.'"
With increased channel capacity, channels such as FX, SciFi and CNN have debuted high-def versions of their feeds. You can now see everything from The Shield to Stargate Atlantis in high-def.
The best part? Those new feeds won't cost HD subscribers an extra dime. There's a word for all this...heavenly.