The ''Morelos'' satellites are a series of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

communications satellites. The first two operated between 1985 and 1998 and provided telephony, data, and television services over the territory of the Mexican Republic and adjacent areas. The third is now part of the

MEXSAT The Mexican Satellite System, also known as MEXSAT, is a network of three satellites bought by the Mexican government's Ministry of Communications and Transportation. The three satellites are named Mexsat-1, Mexsat-2, and Mexsat-3. Subsequently, ...

constellation (sister ship of the MEXSAT-1 lost during launch) but carries the ''Morelos'' name. The original ''Morelos'' satellites were replaced by the

Solidaridad Satellite System The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...

(''Solidaridad I'', launched 17 November 1993, and ''Solidaridad 2'', launched 17 October 1994) and, following privatisation, by the Satmex Satellite System.

Satellites

Morelos I

Morelos I was Mexico's first communications satellite. It was built and put into orbit under a contract from the

Secretariat of Communications and Transport The Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (''Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes'', SICT) of Mexico is the national federal entity that regulates commercial road traffic and broadcasting. Its he ...

(SCT), the federal ministry responsible for the nation's communications systems. ''Morelos I'', a

Hughes Aircraft Corporation The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other produ ...

HS-376, was launched by the U.S. Space Shuttle ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'' (mission STS-51-G) on 17 June 1985 and entered

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 113° W on 17 December 1985.

Morelos II

Morelos II was launched in November 1985 and remained in service until July 1998. Built by the Hughes Aircraft Corporation for the SCT, it was launched by the Space Shuttle '' Atlantis'' on 27 November 1985; the mission, STS-61-B, included

-born astronaut

Rodolfo Neri Vela Rodolfo Neri Vela (born 19 February 1952) is a Mexican scientist and astronaut who flew aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission in the year 1985. He is the second Latin American to have traveled to space. Personal Neri was born in Chilpancingo, Gue ...

as a payload specialist in its crew. ''Morelos II'' held a geostationary orbit at 116.8° W.

Morelos III

Morelos III (originally

2) was launched on 2 October 2015 at 10:28 UTC on '' Atlas V'' 421 AV-059 and the 100th launch by the United Launch Alliance. The spacecraft is designed to provide L-band services to mobile 3G+ users and armed forces via a deployable 22m Herschelian antenna dish with RF transceivers. It also has a 2m Ku-band dish of fixed geometry with a much simpler deployment sequence. The spacecraft is a Boeing 702HP GeoMobile spacecraft bus equipped with an RD-4 main engine for completing its ascent to geostationary orbit at 113° W from an ascent orbit of 4750 by 35800km inclined at 27° following the now-typical long duration two-burn profile of the ''Atlas V''. It was originally intended to serve with the similar MEXSAT-1 ''Centenario'' spacecraft (which would have been at 116° W) lost during the 3rd stage failure of the 406th

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

, a launch vehicle of Proton-M/Briz-M configuration.

Gallery

References

External links

Morelos
( Boeing)
Morelos II
( Satmex)
Morelos-3 Launch images, Oct 2, 2015 @ 6:28 am EDT
{{Orbital launches in 2015 Telecommunications in Mexico Communications satellite constellations First artificial satellites of a country Satellites of Mexico Spacecraft launched in 1985