Loral is just happy it didn't blow-up(so is their insurance company). This one needs 190 encoders, and will handle telephony at the same time........................................
infoseek.com
Loral Announces Successful Launch of High-Powered Broadcast Satellite for Southeast Asia
04:28 p.m Aug 19, 1997 Eastern
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 1997--Agila 2, the first high-powered telecommunications satellite built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (MPSC), was successfully launched in orbit August 20 at 1:50 a.m. local time from Sichuan Province, China.
The Agila satellite was built by SS/L in Palo Alto, and launched aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
The Agila satellite reinforces SS/L's dominance in the emerging domestic and international market for advanced high-powered broadcast satellites. The satellite has more than 9 kilowatts of total on-board power, making it the most powerful telecommunications satellite in service in the Asia-Pacific region. The high-powered spacecraft will allow MPSC to transmit more than 190 channels of high-fidelity digital programming to cable companies and home satellite dishes, and to handle more than 50,000 simultaneous two-way telephone conversations.
The Agila satellite operates 30 C-band transponders at 27 watts, and 24 Ku-band transponders at 110 watts that are combinable to 12 high-power transponders at 220 watts. The satellite features the largest number of active transponders of any satellite in the region and has a high power-to-mass ratio, making it one of the most efficient satellites in the industry. Agila 2 has an expected service life of over 12 years.
"Space Systems/Loral is pleased to have delivered this high-powered satellite to MPSC," said Robert E. Berry, president of Space Systems/Loral. "It is the company's second advanced broadcast satellite launched within the last two weeks. Both of these spacecraft will permit people in some of the fastest growing regions of the world to access various telecommunication services that will help improve their lives."
In addition to designing and manufacturing the satellite, SS/L has provided satellite control ground station equipment in Subic Bay, the Philippines, and has trained MPSC personnel to operate the satellite after completion of on-orbit testing. SS/L will conduct the on-orbit testing from its mission control center located in Palo Alto and from the Mabuhay Space Center in Subic Bay.
The Agila 2 design uses SS/L's flight-proven three-axis, body-stabilized FS-1300 bus, tailored to accommodate the required communication payload. The modular design and construction of the FS-1300 platform supports reliable long-life operation with an integral bipropellant propulsion system to place the satellite on station and provide station-keeping capability.
A three-axis momentum bias system accurately maintains attitude stability on orbit throughout the satellite's life. Deployable solar arrays supplemented with high-energy nickel-hydrogen batteries provide uninterrupted electrical power to the spacecraft.
Space Systems/Loral, a Loral Space & Communications company (NYSE:LOR), is a full-service provider of commercial communications satellite systems and services, including launch services, insurance procurement and long-term mission operations from its mission control center in Palo Alto. SS/L currently has a total backlog of more than 80 spacecraft. In addition to building Agila, the company is the prime contractor for the Globalstar(TM) low-earth-orbit satellite system and the builder of INTELSAT, N-STAR, APSTAR, Telstar, M2A, and CHINASAT communications satellites; audio radio satellites for CD Radio; direct broadcast satellites for TCI/Tempo, MCI, PanAmSat, and L-STAR; the latest series of weather-watch satellites, GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite), and the Japanese MTSAT, the next-generation Japanese air traffic control and weather-watch satellite.
Loral Space & Communications, headquartered in New York City, is a high technology company that primarily concentrates on satellite manufacturing and satellite-based services. In addition to having 100 percent ownership of Space Systems/Loral, Loral owns Loral Skynet, a leading U.S. satellite communications service provider that owns and operates the Telstar satellites, and manages and holds a 38 percent equity interest in the global, mobile satellite-based telephony system, Globalstar, scheduled for service initiation in late 1998. Loral also is the developer of CyberStar(TM), a geostationary satellite-based, open protocol, digital telecommunications system that will offer a variety of low-cost, high-speed, data and telecommunications services worldwide, initially from leased Ku-band transponders, and subsequently through a dedicated constellation of geosynchronous Ka-band satellites. (See also: businesswire.com)
Copyright 1997, Business Wire |
