AsiaStar is an American

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

which was operated by

1worldspace 1worldspace, known for most of its existence simply as WorldSpace, is a defunct satellite radio network that in its heyday provided service to over 170,000 subscribers in eastern, southern and northern Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia wi ...

. It was constructed by

Matra Marconi Space Matra Marconi Space (MMS) was a Franco-British aerospace company. History Matra Marconi Space was established in 1990 as a joint venture between the space and telecommunication divisions of the Lagardère Group ( Matra Espace) and the GEC g ...

with

Alcatel Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufacture ...

based on the Eurostar E2000+ bus design. Launch occurred on 21 March 2000, at 23:29:00 UTC. The launch was contracted by

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy ...

, and used an

Ariane 5G Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads into ...

carrier rocket flying from

ELA-3 ELA-3 (french: Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3, lit=Ariane Launch Complex 3), is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. ELA-3 is operated by Arianespace as part of the expendable launch system f ...

at the Centre Spatial Guyanais. The

INSAT-3B INSAT-3B is an Indian communications satellite which was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation and operated by Indian National Satellite System. Overview INSAT–3B is the first satellite built under INSAT–3 series of satellites to ...

satellite was launched on the same rocket. Following its launch and on-orbit testing, it was placed in

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

at 105.0° East, from where it provides mobile communications services to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. It carries three transponders, and has an expected on-orbit lifespan of 12 years. The satellite had a weight of 2777 kg, and 5.6 kW of power, and

three-axis stabilized Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle/satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, et ...

; has relayed digital radio broadcasts to

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. On 31 December 2009,

Worldspace 1worldspace, known for most of its existence simply as WorldSpace, is a defunct satellite radio network that in its heyday provided service to over 170,000 subscribers in eastern, southern and northern Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia wi ...

ceased broadcasting on the Asiastar satellite in line with its bankruptcy issues. However, as of 30 November 2010, two

Free to Air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscriptio ...

(unencrypted) stations are still available, namely Sai Global Harmony and

Radio France International Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with D ...

. In 2010, the ownership of the AsiaStar satellite as well as other assets of the 1worlspace company were bought by Noah A. Samara (former CEO of 1worldspace) and by his new company Yazmi USA. The AsiaStar satellite was acquired by in late 2014 by New York Broadband LLC and used as an orbital placeholder for their planned Silkwave 1 (originally NYBBSat-1) satellite. As of 2020, Silkwave 1 has not been launched.

References

* * * Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2000 Satellites using the Eurostar bus {{communications-satellite-stub