ICO G1 was launched at 4:12 pm Eastern (US) time, and was successfully placed into its initial geosynchronous transfer orbit at 4:56 pm. The initial telemetry and command contact with the spacecraft was established through the Perth, Australia ground station. The final position of the spacecraft will be at 92.85 degrees west longitude and will provide service to the entire United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

"Today's launch of ICO G1 was flawless," reported Bob Day, ICO senior vice president, space systems. "The spacecraft correctly separated from the launch vehicle 44 minutes after liftoff. Telemetry signals have been received and the spacecraft appears healthy."

"With our launch of ICO G1, ICO is now poised to deliver a new generation of mobile services for consumers," commented Tim Bryan, chief executive officer of ICO. "We look forward to meeting our 12th and final FCC milestone by May 15, 2008, when we anticipate certifying that ICO G1 is operational. Later this summer we will commence market trials in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina for our mobile interactive media service, ICO mim, which we expect to launch commercially later in 2009."

ICO has been conducting the first-ever trials of the DVB-SH standard in North America in Las Vegas. In conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, ICO will be conducting mobile demonstrations of its ICO mim service in a specially equipped car on April 16 and 17. For information on the ICO mobile demonstration, please visit the DVB booth, C2239, in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

ICO G1
ICO G1 is an innovative next-generation satellite designed to deliver a wide variety of interactive services to mobile and portable devices. ICO G1 was constructed by Space Systems/Loral using the Loral 1300 platform. The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on board an Atlas V 421 launch vehicle provided by United Launch Alliance and was launched by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. With a total mass of 6634kg, ICO G1 is the largest satellite ever launched by an Atlas rocket, and is the largest commercial satellite ever launched.

ICO G1 will operate in the 2 GHz S-band and will provide coverage to the United States and most of North America. The S-band antenna has an aperture of 12 meters and was built by Harris Corporation.

ICO G1 is the first satellite to utilize an innovative ground-based beam forming (GBBF) system for both satellite-receive and satellite-transmit directions. GBBF will provide unprecedented flexibility in operation for the spacecraft to form S-band antenna beams, flexibility in assigning frequencies and power, and will accommodate any modulation protocol within ICO's licensed spectrum. GBBF can form up to 250 transmit and 250 receive independent S-band beams.

ICO mim
The ICO mim product is a converged mobile media service that addresses a wide variety of consumers' entertainment, information, and two-way communication needs: live and stored mobile TV in vehicles, interactive navigation, and roadside assistance, all with nationwide coverage. ICO mim will provide multiple channels of high-quality mobile video to portable, larger-screen (4.5 to 10 inch) user devices.

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