AsiaSat 2 was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

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 ...

, which was owned, and was initially operated, by the

based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It was positioned in

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 altitu ...

at a longitude of 17° East of the

Greenwich Meridian The historic prime meridian or Greenwich meridian is a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. The modern IERS Reference Meridian widely used today is based on the Greenwich m ...

, on lease to

Spacecom Spacecom, or Space Communication (), is an Israeli communications satellite operator in the Middle East, European Union and North America headquartered in the city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Spacecom operates two satellites at orbital position ...

. It spent most of its operational life at 100.5° East, from where it was used to provide fixed satellite services, including broadcasting, audio and data transmission, to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

Satellite description

AsiaSat 2 was built by Astro Space, which by the time of its launch had become part of

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 ...

. It is based on the AS-7000

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- ...

. At launch, it had a mass of , and a design life of thirteen years. It carries twenty six C-band and eight Ku-band

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 tra ...

Launch

The launch of AsiaSat 2 was contracted to the China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), and used a Long March 2E

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and sys ...

with a FG-46 upper stage. It was the maiden flight of the FG-46, and the first Chinese launch since the

Apstar 2 Apstar 2 was a communications satellite based on the Hughes HS-601 spacecraft design, built by Hughes Space and Communications Company for APT Satellite Holdings, a Hong-Kong based company. The satellite was intended to provide video, radio, data, ...

failure, which killed a number of villagers in January 1995. The launch was conducted from Xichang Launch Area 2 (LA-2) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at 11:30:05 UTC on 28 November 1995. The launch had previously been delayed twice; first from December 1994 due to the failure of

Telstar 402 Telstar 402 was a communications satellite owned by AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunication ...

, which was based on the same satellite bus as AsiaSat 2, and subsequently whilst the Apstar 2 launch failure was investigated. Since the Long March 2E launch vehicle had experienced two failures in five launches, AsiaSat 2 had to pay a 27% premium for satellite insurance instead of the usual 17–20%. Although the satellite was delivered to the correct orbit, the launch was a partial failure. Excessive acceleration during the launch caused a misalignment of the antenna feed horns on the Ku-band transponders, reducing the satellite's coverage area. AsiaSat filed an insurance claim for US$58 million.

AMOS-5i

AsiaSat 2 was replaced by AsiaSat 5 in 2009, and in September 2009 it was leased to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i operator Spacecom Ltd. It was subsequently moved to a longitude of 17° East, and in January 2010 it began operations for Spacecom, who refer to it as AMOS-5i. Spacecom intended to operate it until AMOS-5 was launched in 2011, however during a stationkeeping manoeuvre in August 2010 they discovered that it was carrying less fuel than they had expected, meaning that it would have to be retired before the launch of its replacement.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1995 Spacecraft launched in 1995 AsiaSat satellites Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets

Satellite description

Launch

AMOS-5i

See also

References