Marisat 3 (or Marisat F3) is a communications satellite operated by COMSAT. Marisat 3 was the second of a series of COMSAT maritime communications satellites.

Satellite

The satellite was operated at orbital position of 176 degrees east from 1976 to 1991. It was transferred to 182° E (178° W) and operated there until 1996. It was transferred to 326.1° E (33.9° W), Over the Atlantic Ocean, and since 1999 has been providing a broadband data link to the US

National Antarctic Foundation National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in Antarctica at the South Pole's Amundsen-Scott research station. The same was transferred to

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...

in 2004. On Wednesday, October 29, 2008, after 32 years of service, the longest for any commercial satellite to date, was removed from active service. Intelsat engineers used the remaining fuel on board to raise the orbit about 125 miles (200 km) above the

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 ...

arc and put it into an array orbit.

Launch

Marisat 3 was launched by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 22:44 UTC on October 14, 1976.

References

Satellites of the United States Intelsat satellites {{US-spacecraft-stub

Satellite

Launch

See also

References