PAS-3, was a communications satellite for PanAmSat. Launched in December 1994.

Satellite description

PAS-3 was constructed by

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 ...

, based on the HS-601 satellite bus. It had a mass at launch of , which decreased to around by the time it was operational. Designed for an operational life of 15 years, the spacecraft was equipped with 20 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders. Its two

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

, which had a span of generated 4.7 kW of power when the spacecraft first entered service, which was expected to drop to around 4.3 kW by the end of the vehicle's operational life.

Launch

Arianespace launched PAS-3, using an Ariane 4 launch vehicle, flight number V70, in the Ariane 42P H10-3 configuration. The launch took place from ELA-2 at the

Centre Spatial Guyanais The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

, at Kourou in French Guiana, at 23:05:32 UTC on 8 July 1994. Failed to orbit.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1994 Intelsat satellites Satellites using the BSS-601 bus Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellite television Spacecraft launched in 1994