Telesat Canada selected Lockheed Martin to build and launch Nimiq 2. No financial terms were disclosed. The satellite will use an Atlas 5 vehicle of the 500 series (with a 5-m-wide payload fairing), backed up by a Proton. The satellite is scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2002, to be located at 91°W. The launch will be provided by International Launch Services (ILS).

The high power Ku/Ka-band Nimiq 2 will use a Lockheed Martin A2100AX satellite bus with an operational design life of 12 years. It will carry 32 active 24 MHz Ku-band transponders with 120-watt power amplifiers and a Ka-band payload to provide broadband services.