Star One B4, originally designated Brasilsat B4, is a Brazilian

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 ...

which is operated by

Star One Star One was an Indian pay television network based in Mumbai. It was launched on 1 November 2004 and was it owned by Star TV and distributed worldwide by Fox International Channels. In November 2006, Star One was launched in the UK on Sky. S ...

. It was constructed by the

Hughes Space and Communications Company Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

, and is based on the HS-376W

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 was the penultimate

HS-376 The Boeing 376 (sometimes referred to as the BSS-376, and previously as the HS-376) is a communications satellite bus introduced in 1978 by Hughes Space and Communications Company. It was a spin-stabilized bus that the manufacturer claims was th ...

, and final HS-376W to be launched. Its launch was contracted by

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 ...

, using an

Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was a European expendable space launch system, developed by the ''Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arian ...

44LP-3 carrier rocket. The launch occurred at 23:16 GMT on 17 August 2000, from the

ELA-2 ELA-2, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2 (French for Ariane Launch Area 2), was a launch pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. It was used by Arianespace for two Ariane 3 launches (V17 in 1986, V25 in 1988), the second Ariane ...

launch pad at the

Guiana Space Centre 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 ...

. The

Nilesat 102 Nilesat 102 is an Egyptian owned geosynchronous communications satellite that was launched by an Ariane 44LP rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on August 17, 2000, at 23:16 UTC by the European Space Agency. It was manufactured by the European com ...

satellite was launched on the same rocket. It was originally built and launched as Brasilsat B4 for

Embratel Embratel is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The company was the long distance arm of Telebras until it was bought by the U.S. company MCI Communications for 2.65 billion Brazilian real, reais during ...

, and was later transferred to Embratel's subsidiary Star One and renamed. Following its launch it raised itself into

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 ...

by means of its onboard

R-4D The R-4D is a small hypergolic rocket engine, originally designed by Marquardt Corporation for use as a reaction control system thruster on vehicles of the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Today, Aerojet Rocketdyne manufactures and markets m ...

apogee motor An apogee kick motor (AKM) is a rocket motor that is regularly employed on artificial satellites to provide the final impulse to change the trajectory from the transfer orbit into its final (most commonly circular) orbit. For a satellite laun ...

, and was positioned at 75° West for on-orbit testing. This was completed in September 2000, and it was moved to 92° West, arriving in October. It remained at that position until January 2007 when it was relocated to 70° West. It arrived on station in February, and subsequently departed in June 2008. In July 2008 it arrived at 84° West, where it is currently stationed. It carries twenty eight transponders, and has an expected on-orbit lifespan of 12 years. It initially replaced the

Brasilsat A2 Brasilsat A2 was a Brazilian geostationary communication satellite belonging to the Brasilsat family. It was built by Spar Aerospace in partnership with Hughes. For most of its useful life it was located in the orbital position of 70 degrees wes ...

satellite. and the end of

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

Brasilsat B4 was moved to

junk orbit Junk may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junk'' (film), a 2000 Japanese horror film * '' J-U-N-K'', a 1920 American film * ''Junk'' (novel), by Melvin Burgess, 1996 * ''Junk'', a novel by Christopher Largen Music Groups * Junk (band), a ...

in June 2021.

References

* * * Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Star One satellites {{Brazil-spacecraft-stub, nocat=yes