CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Roll down your windows and crank up the tunes because XM Satellite Radio is finally ready to rock and roll.
With the successful launch Tuesday of a Zenit 3SL rocket carrying the second of two digital radio broadcasting satellites into orbit for XM Satellite Radio, the Washington, D.C.-based company finally has its "Rock" and "Roll" spacecraft in place and can begin offering service this year.
"It's a big moment for us," said Hugh Panero, XM Satellite Radio's president, who called his company's pair of orbiting satellites "the newest power couple" in Washington.
The Boeing Satellite Systems-built XM-1 spacecraft -- nicknamed "Roll" -- was lofted into orbit by Sea Launch from the company's Odyssey Launch Platform floating at the equator in the Pacific Ocean east of Christmas Island.
Liftoff was right on time at 6:10 p.m. EDT (22:10 GMT) and the satellite separated from the Ukrainian rocket's Block DM upper stage 65 minutes later.
"Looks like another picture perfect launch," said Jack Wormington, senior vice president of engineering and operations for XM Satellite Radio.
The company's XM-2 satellite, dubbed "Rock," was sent into orbit by Sea Launch on March 18.
Each of the XM satellites weighs 10,322 pounds (4,682 kilograms) and are designed to operate 15 years. When fully deployed, the satellites' electricity-generating solar arrays stretch more than 134 feet (40 meters), which is longer than the wingspan of a Boeing 757.
The satellites are equipped with two transponders and each of those are capable of broadcasting 3,000 watts of radio frequency signal power, making them the highest power commercial transponders ever built, according to Boeing. That means that on the ground the receiving antennas can be very small.
The two satellites are to beam 100 channels of premium radio programming to special receivers installed in cars and trucks across the nation. Much of the programming will be commercial free and originally produced by XM Satellite Radio at its headquarters in the nation's capital.
The monthly price for the XM radio band -- the natural evolution following the AM and FM bands, company officials say -- is expected to be about $9.95.
Customers will be able to choose from programs representing almost every category of music, plus content from the company's partners including Sesame Street Workshop, NASCAR, CNBC, USA TODAY, One-On-One Sports, Hispanic Broadcast Corporation, C-SPAN Radio, Clear Channel and DIRECTV.
Satellite receivers will be featured options on cars and trucks manufactured by companies such as General Motors Corp., American Honda Motor Co., Inc., American Isuzu, Suzuki and Freightliner.
Some receiver units already are for sale in consumer electronics stores such as Circuit City, company officials said.
Sirius Satellite Radio of New York City is competing with XM to provide similar digital radio service and their system is based on three satellites, all of which also are safely in orbit, operational and ready to begin offering programming this year.
Nevertheless, XM Satellite Radio's Panero said their company is ready to go head to head with Sirius.
"When we first went out telling our story and raising money, what we heard was that it's a duopoly market and that we would launch a year after our competitors," Panero said after Tuesday's launch. "It's a big market, there's room obviously for both players. We are now here, we are now equal and we will launch commercial service at the end of the summer."
With this mission complete, the Odyssey Launch Platform and the nearby assembly-and-command ship will begin steaming back to the U.S. West Coast and its Long Beach, California, home port. Sea Launch officials say their next mission is expected later this summer.
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