The Mexican Satellite System, also known as MEXSAT, is a network of three satellites bought by the
Mexican government's Ministry of Communications and Transportation. The three satellites are named Mexsat-1, Mexsat-2, and
Mexsat-3
Mexsat-3, also known as Mexsat Bicentenario or simply Bicentenario, is the first of three Mexican satellites forming the MEXSAT telecommunications network, and is named to commemorate the bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico. It was launched ...
. Subsequently, they have also been named Centenario, Morelos III and Bicentenario respectively.
Mexsat-1 and Mexsat-2 are twin satellites for mobile communication devices and will operate in the electromagnetic frequencies of the
L and
Ku bands. Mexsat-3 will operate in the range of the extended
C and K
u bands.
Together these three satellites will form the whole system, operated by the
Ministry of Communications and Transportation.
The system is expected to meet the telecommunications needs of the whole country.
Two control centres have been built in
Hermosillo from which the new satellites will be operated. They were inaugurated by the then-president
Felipe Calderón on 29 November 2012.
History
On 20 August 2009, the National Security Program of
Mexico announced the MEXSAT project as a means by which to preserve security in Mexico. It is developed by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation and on 17 December 2010 in
New York City,
United States of America, the Federal Government signed a contract for the acquisition of the MEXSAT system by
Boeing Satellite Systems International, Inc.
On 28 June 2011 a contract is signed with
Arianespace SA
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-l ...
, who will provide the launch services for Mexsat-3.
On 6 February 2012 a contract is signed with
International Launch Services (ILS) to provide the launch services for Mexsat-1.
In April 2012 the government renames the satellites from Mexsat-1, 2 and 3 to Centenario, Morelos III and Bicentenario.
Mexsat-1
The first of the three satellites which formed the MEXSAT system was Centenario (originally Mexsat-1), named to commemorate the centenary of the beginning of the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
. It was a
Boeing 702HP communications satellite completed in November 2013.
It was equipped with an
L band reflector and a
Ku band antenna. It had an estimated lifespan of 15 years.
The satellite was launched on an
ILS Proton-M rocket on 16 May 2015. However, 490 seconds after lift-off a technical failure in the third stage of the craft caused the destruction of the satellite, which burned up in the atmosphere and fell into
Siberia.
Mexsat-2
The second satellite, Morelos III (originally Mexsat-2) was due to be launched in the last quarter of 2014 but was held back. It instead was launched on October 2, 2015, aboard a
United Launch Alliance Atlas V.
It is identical in design and function to Mexsat-1, in that it is a
Boeing 702HP fitted with the same equipment.
It was the second satellite in the network to achieve orbit. It is named after a previous Mexican Satellite Network,
Morelos Satellite System
The ''Morelos'' satellites are a series of Mexican communications satellites. The first two operated between 1985 and 1998 and provided telephony, data, and television services over the territory of the Mexican Republic and adjacent areas. ...
.
Mexsat-3
The third satellite, Bicentenario (originally Mexsat-3), is so named to commemorate the bicentennial of
Mexican Independence. Instead of being a Boeing 702Hp like its counterparts, Mexsat-3 is instead a
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 ...
manufactured by
Orbital Sciences Corporation. It was launched on 19 December 2012 from a base in
Kourou,
French Guiana, becoming the first satellite in the network to achieve orbit (contrary to its name).
See also
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References
{{reflist, 2
Communications satellite operators
Space program of Mexico
Telecommunications in Mexico