Intelsat 25

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Intelsat 25
Start date July 7, 2008, 21:47 UTC
Launcher Ariane 5 ECA
Launch site Center Spatial Guyanais , ELA-3
COSPAR-ID : 2008-034A
Takeoff mass 4100 kg
Empty mass 1764 kg
Manufacturer Space Systems / Loral
model SS / LS1300
lifespan 15 years (planned)
Stabilization Three-axis
operator Intelsat
Playback information
Transponder 16 for Ku-Band, 36 for C-Band
Transponder performance 125 W for Ku-Band, 37 W for C-Band
Bandwidth 36 MHz and 72 MHz
Others
Electrical power 11 kW
Ground stations at SingTel in Singapore
position
First position 98.5 ° East
Actual position 31.5 ° west
List of geostationary satellites

Intelsat 25 (formerly: Chinasat 8 and ProtoStar 1 ) is the name of a geostationary telecommunications satellite made by Intelsat .

Production for China

This satellite was originally commissioned from Space Systems / Loral in 1997 by the China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation (Chinasat) . It was the most powerful satellite that China had ordered until then. ChinaSat-8 (also Zhongxing 8 or ZX-8) was intended as a designation.

However, an export permit issued by the Ministry of Commerce in February 1998 was revoked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of 1998 , so that the satellite could not be delivered to and launched in China as planned.

It was not until February 2005 that Loral and Chinasat reached a contractual agreement according to which the legal differences were settled and Loral provided capacities for Chinasat on the Telstar 10 and Telstar 18 satellites . Chinasat sold the satellite, which had been in storage at Loral for several years, in 2006 to ProtoStar . From January 2007, Loral modified the satellite according to ProtoStar's requirements.

Technical specifications

The satellite, now called ProtoStar 1, is based on the SS / L1300 satellite bus from Space Systems / Loral. It has a mass of 4100 kg and has 22 Ku-band - the transponder (16 in operation 6 in reserve) with 125 Watt power and 38 C-band transponders (32 in operation, reserve 6) with 37 Watt, for which the two solar cell arms provide a primary output of 11 kW. ProtoStar 1 is designed for a service life of 17 years. It is 3.8 m high, 2.4 m wide and has a wingspan of 31.1 m.

National approval

Positions and frequencies for geostationary satellites are only assigned to states by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) , not to private companies. For this reason, ProtoStar had to seek a national authority whose assigned position and frequencies were available. Finally, a contract was signed with Singapore in this regard . The company Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) was to serve both the control center of the satellite and lease capacity.

Even before the launch, the governments of the People's Republic of China and the United Arab Emirates had expressed concerns that ProtoStar 1 could interfere with their satellites. China feared above all interference during the Olympic Games, the United Arab Emirates a possible collision with the Thuraya 3 satellite .

Operation at ProtoStar

ProtoStar 1 was launched on July 7, 2008 at 21:47 UTC from the Center Spatial Guyanais together with the Arab communications satellite Badr 6 . The satellite was stationed at 98.5 ° East . The footprint was tailored to the needs of the Agrani television station . Protostar 1 supplied to India and Southeast Asia with more than 150 digital HDTV channels, radio, pay-per-view channels and broadband - Internet .

Probably under Chinese pressure, Singapore withdrew responsibility for ProtoStar 1 and no longer declared itself responsible for the satellite. This put the ITU in the situation for the first time that a satellite had no national authority in the background. The ITU examined a few possibilities: the USA as the country of the manufacturer, the United Kingdom because ProtoStar was based in its overseas territory, Bermuda , and France , because it was launched from French territory in French Guiana . ProtoStar said they had a national authority, but couldn't name them at the moment. It was Belarus , which also had rights to this orbital position through the international organization Intersputnik . A contract between ProtoStar and Intersputnik was announced on September 5, 2008.

Already at the end of 2008 it became apparent that ProtoStar 1 was not generating as much sales as hoped. The economic situation was exacerbated by the fact that Agrani terminated the contract with ProtoStar on March 30, 2009, whereby ProtoStar denied the effectiveness of the termination. On April 3, 2009, Intersputnik withdrew the transmission license for ProtoStar because ProtoStar 1 generated interference, which was also denied by ProtoStar. However, ProtoStar was legally forced to stop broadcasting.

Although the ProtoStar 2 satellite was launched in May 2009, the ProtoStar company had to file for bankruptcy in June 2009. The two satellites were up for auction, which eleven satellite operators showed an interest in ProtoStar 1. In the last auction round on October 29, 2009, Intelsat , Eutelsat , Echostar , MEASAT , SES and Thaicom were also involved. Intelsat finally won the bid for 210 million US dollars.

Operation at Intelsat

Intelsat renamed the satellite Intelsat 25 and positioned it at 31.5 degrees west over the Atlantic Ocean. From there, Intelsat 25 supplies Africa and North America. It has a C-band footprint that covers large parts of Africa and goes as far as the east coast of North America. There are also two Ku-band beams, one for the Central Atlantic with Morocco and Western Sahara , and another that officially covers large parts of Algeria , Tunisia , Mali and Burkina Faso , but can also be received in Germany with little effort. As of summer 2015, only a few programs from Mali are being broadcast and data is being transmitted.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Loral Wins Contract To Build High Powered Satellite for China-MPT Subsidiary Chinasat. Loral, January 21, 1997; archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on December 19, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Loral Impacted If CHINASAT 8 License Withheld. Space and Tech, archived from the original on January 6, 2009 ; accessed on October 19, 2012 (English).
  3. ↑ Quarterly Report Pursuant to Section 13 Or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. May 9, 2012, p. 31 , archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on October 19, 2012 (English).
  4. ^ Space Systems / Loral Reaches Favorable Settlement With Chinasat. Loral, February 23, 2005, archived from the original on March 23, 2006 ; accessed on October 19, 2012 (English).
  5. ↑ Loral to convert unlaunched ChinaSat-8 for ProtoStar. Spaceflight Now, January 7, 2007, accessed October 19, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Badr 6 and Protostar 1 launched. The Orion, July 8, 2008, accessed October 19, 2012 .
  7. ↑ Protostar, S'pore & China. The Space News, July 12, 2008, archived from the original on February 4, 2013 ; accessed on October 25, 2012 .
  8. ^ A b Peter B. De Selding: ITU Denies Request for Extension of ProtoStar-1 Deadline. Space News, July 28, 2008.
  9. ↑ a b Cynthia M. Pelini: Declaration of Cynthia M. Pelini in Support of Protostar's Chapter 11 Petitions and Various First Day Applications And Motions. (PDF, 48 pages, 2 MB) 2009, p. 5 , archived from the original on July 11, 2011 ; accessed on October 25, 2012 .
  10. ↑ Justin Ray: Two satellites in orbit after good ride from Ariane 5. Spaceflight Now, July 7, 2008, accessed on October 19, 2012 (English).
  11. ^ ProtoStar and Intersputnik Finalize Joint Orbital Location Services Agreement. ProtoStar, September 5, 2008, accessed October 25, 2012 .
  12. ↑ Peter B. de Selding: Protostar in Chapter 11, Looking To Unload Satellites. Space News, July 31, 2009, accessed October 25, 2012 .
  13. ↑ Thomas Weyrauch: Intelsat buys Protostar 1. raumfahrer.net, October 31, 2009, accessed on October 19, 2012 .
  14. ↑ Intelsat 25 at 328.5 ° E. (PDF) Intelsat, July 2012, archived from the original on November 10, 2012 ; Retrieved on October 19, 2012 (English, 328.5 ° East corresponds to 31.5 ° West).