JCSAT-11, was a

geostationary 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 altitude ...

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 ...

ordered by

JSAT Corporation JSAT Corporation (JSAT) was the first private Japanese satellite operator, which owned the JSAT satellites, as well as operated and partially owned the N-Star with NTT DoCoMo. Its origins can be traced to the funding of Japan Communications ...

(now

SKY Perfect JSAT Group The SKY Perfect JSAT Group is a Japanese corporate group that claims to be Asia's largest satellite communication and multi-channel pay TV company. It owns the SKY PerfecTV! satellite broadcasting service and the SKY Perfect Well Think content s ...

) which was designed and manufactured by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

on the A2100 platform. The satellite was designated to be used as an on-orbit, but was lost on launch failure.

Satellite description

The spacecraft was designed and manufactured by

on the

A2100AX The A2100 is a model of communications satellite spacecraft made by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. It is used as the foundation for telecommunications payloads in geosynchronous orbit, as well as GOES-R weather satellites and GPS Block IIIA satel ...

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...

. It had a launch mass of and a 15-year design life. A near copy of

JCSAT-3A JCSAT-3A, known as JCSAT-10 before launch, is a geostationary communications satellite operated by SKY Perfect JSAT Group (JSAT) which was designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin on the A2100 platform. Satellite description The spacecraft w ...

, it was to be used as an on orbit spare. As most satellites based on the A2100 platform, it uses a

LEROS-1C Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight fr ...

LAE Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

for

orbit raising In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an physical body, object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an satellite, artificial satellite around an object or pos ...

. Its solar panels span when fully deployed and, with its antennas in fully extended configuration it is wide. Its payload is composed of eighteen 27 MHz and twelve 36 MHz K_u band plus twelve C band

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

, for a total bandwidth of 1,350 MHz. Its

high-power amplifier In electronics, the figures of merit of an amplifier are numerical measures that characterize its properties and performance. Figures of merit can be given as a list of specifications that include properties such as gain, bandwidth, noise and linea ...

s had an output power of 127

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s on K_u band and 48 Watts on C band.

History

On October 3, 2005, JSAT ordered an

based satellite from

, JCSAT-11. It would be an almost copy of

, with a C band and K_u band payload. It was expected to be launched in 2007 to act as a backup for the whole JSAT fleet. The almost 19-year streak of successful JCSAT launches was ended when a

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...

Briz-M The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M (russian: Бриз-К, КM and M meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket orbit insertion upper stages manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used ...

failed to orbit JCSAT-11 on September 5, 2007. A damaged pyro firing cable on the interstage truss prevented the second stage from controlling its direction, and the rocket and its payload crashed into the Kazakhstan steppes. Being lucky in misfortune, JCSAT-11 was simply an on-orbit backup and thus it had no operational impact on the fleet. The same day of the launch failure, JSAT placed an order with Lockheed for an identical replacement,

JCSAT-12 JCSAT-RA, previously known as JCSAT-12, is a Japanese geostationary communications satellite, which is operated by SKY Perfect JSAT Group. Details It was ordered to replace the JCSAT-11 satellite which was lost in a launch failure on a Proton-M/ ...

, for launch in 2009. On September 19, 2007, they closed a deal with

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 ...

for a launch slot with an Ariane 5 for its launch.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2007 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites using the A2100 bus Spacecraft launched in 2007 Communications satellites of Japan Satellites of Japan