N-STAR c, is 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 ...

originally ordered by NTT DoCoMo and later fully acquired by

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 ...

. It 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 ...

, which acted as prime, developed the payload and did the final integration and testing, and

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

, which supplied the

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 ...

on the

GEOStar-2 The STAR-2 Bus is a fully redundant, flight-proven, spacecraft bus designed for geosynchronous missions. It is a satellite platform, designed and developed by Thomas van der Heyden for the Indonesian Cakrawarta satellite program in the early 19 ...

platform and procured the launch services. It had a launch weight of approximately , and a 15-year design life. Its payload is composed of 1 C-band, and 20

S-band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventional ...

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 ...

and its stationed in the 136° East longitude.

Satellite description

N-STAR c is a 3 axis stabilized

based on the

. While its payload was developed by

, who also did final integration, the satellite bus was supplied by

(now Lockheed Martin). N-STAR c was the first order for the GEOStar-2 (then called STAR-2) platform, and Orbital Sciences supplied it fully integrated and tested to Lockheed Martin. It weighed at launch, and while the design life was of 15 years. Stowed for launch it measured . It had a power availability dedicated to the payload of 1.4 kW, thanks to its

multi-junction Multi-junction (MJ) solar cells are solar cells with multiple p–n junctions made of different semiconductor materials. Each material's p-n junction will produce electric current in response to different wavelengths of light. The use of multiple ...

GaAs Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circui ...

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

s that produced 2.6 kW at the beginning of its operative life and spanned when deployed. The satellite used a bipropellant propulsion system for orbit circularization, station keeping and attitude control, with enough propellant for 15 years. Its payload was designed and manufactured by Lokheed Martin. It is composed of an unfurlable antenna fed by 20

and 1 C-band

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

s. With the S-band part supplying end user mobile communication services and the C-band acting as the feeder channel. The S-band transponders have a solid-state amplifiers power of 288

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. It is arranged in three groups of four plus one spare amplifiers of 24 watts each. The transponders work on the 2.5 GHz to 2.6 GHz frequency. The C-band transponder is powered by one plus one spare 13 watts solid state amplifier and works on the 4 GHz and 6 GHz frequency band.

History

N-Star was created as a joint venture between

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 S ...

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone , commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked 55th in Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500, NTT is the fourth largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of revenue, as w ...

(NTT),

NTT Communications , or NTT Com, is a Japanese telecommunications company which operates an international network in over 190 countries/regions, with locations in more than 70 countries/regions. The company has approximately 5,500 employees (NTT Communications ...

and NTT DoCoMo for the supply of these latter two ''WIDESTAR'' satellite telephone and data packet service. JSAT would handle the satellite side of business and NTT DoCoMo would operate the payload. In October 1999, N-STAR c was ordered by NTT DoCoMo from

and

. Orbital Sciences would supply the spacecraft and procure launch services and Lockheed Martin would deliver the payload an act a main contractor. It was the first satellite ordered to use the

satellite bus from Orbital Sciences. On 5 July 2002 at 23:22:00 UTC and Ariane 5G successfully launched N-STAR c along Stellat 5. On 12 September 2002, Orbital Sciences announced the successful on-orbit delivery of N-STAR c to its client, NTT DoCoMo, during late August 2002. During 2010, SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation acquires N-STAR c, completing the transfer of NTT orbital assets and management to JSAT. The same year the ''WIDESTAR II'' service was enabled for all of Japan, using N-STAR c and

JCSAT-5A JCSAT-5A or N-STAR d, known as JCSAT-9 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 T ...

, also known as N-STAR d.

References

External links

JSAT Fleet Status
{{Orbital launches in 2002 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites using the GEOStar bus Spacecraft launched in 2002 Communications satellites of Japan Satellites of Japan

Satellite description

History

See also

References

External links