Anik F2 (CANSAT KA4, Wildblue-2) at 111° West
| Position: | 111° West |
| Manufacturer: | Boeing |
| Operators: | Telesat |
| Viasat, Inc. | |
| Launch operator: | Arianespace |
| Launch vehicle: | Ariane 5G |
| Launch date: | 07/18/2004 |
| Expected lifetime: | 15 Years |
The Anik satellites are a series of geostationary communication satellites operated by satellite operator Telesat in Canada. The satellites are used for television, voice and datas in Canada and other parts of the world from 1972 thru 2013. The remaining Anik satellites that are still active are Anik F1, Anik F1R (replacing Anik F1), Anik F2, Anik F3 and Anik G1. The naming of the satellites was determined by a national contest. In Inuktitut, Canada’s national principal Inuit languages, Anik means “little brother”.
Anik F2 is operated by satellite operator Telesat from Canada. The satellite was constructed by Hughes (Boeing Defense & Space) and is based on the 702-series satellite bus. At 5,900kgs, it is more than ten times the size of Anik A2 and is one of the largest, most powerful communications satellites ever built. Anik F2 is designed to support and enhance current North American voice, data, and broadcast services with its C-Band and Ku-band technologies. It was the fifteenth satellite to be launched by Telesat Canada.
With its use of Ka-band technology, low-cost two-way satellite delivery will be available for wireless broadband Internet connections, telemedicine, teleteaching, teleworking and e-commerce in the most remote regions of Canada.
In October 2011 a “technical” anomaly caused the satellite to point away from the Earth causing an outage in Internet, telephone and bank machine connectivity throughout much of Canada’s northern areas. The outage also affected flights in the region. Some hospitals in Quebec reported an outage in their communications systems as a result of the satellite outage This was Anik F2’s first outage.
Five years later another malfunction with Anik F2 resulted in a loss of Northwestel’s long distance and cellular service, Xplornet and some of SSI Micro Internet, and some TV signals for Shaw Direct Satellite TV.
Internet provider Wildblue (owned by Viasat) is leasing Ka-band capacity on Anik F2 to serve the US market marketing as CANSAT.
Anik F2 satellite was successfully launched on July 18th, 2004, on an Ariane 5G rocket, operated by launch operator Arianespace, from the Kourou Space Port in French Guyana.
Anik F2 (CANSAT KA4, Wildblue-2) at 111° West
Anik F2 (CANSAT KA4, Wildblue-2) at 111° West
Fact Sheet Anik F2 satelliteArianespace Launchkit Telesat Anik-F2Telesat Satellite FleetViasat Global Ka-band Coverage mapAnik F2 (CANSAT KA4, Wildblue-2) at 111° West
