AsiaSat 5

AsiaSat 5 is a Hong Kong communications satellite, which will be operated by the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It will be positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 100.5° East of the Greenwich Meridian, where it will replace the older AsiaSat 2 spacecraft.^[2] It will be used to provide fixed satellite services, including broadcasting, telephone and broadband VSAT communications, to Asia and the Pacific Ocean.^[3]

Launch

AsiaSat 5 was built by Space Systems/Loral, and is based on the LS-1300LL satellite bus.^[3] It is being launched by International Launch Services, using a Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M upper stage. The launch was conducted from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 19:47 GMT on 11 August 2009. The Briz-M separated from the Proton-M nine minutes and forty one seconds into the flight, and AsiaSat 5 will separate from the Briz-M into a geosynchronous transfer orbit nine hours and fifteen minutes after liftoff.^[4] It will then raise itself into its final geostationary orbit.

The launch was originally scheduled to be conducted by Land Launch, using a Zenit-3SLB carrier rocket. The satellite was subsequently re-awarded to ILS after Land Launch were unable to guarantee that the satellite could be launched by August 2009, in order to be in orbit before AsiaSat 2 ceased operations.^[5][6]

At launch, AsiaSat 5 had a mass of 3,760 kilograms (8,290 lb),^[4] and was expected to operate for fifteen years. It carries 26 G/H band and 14 J band transponders (NATO frequency designation system, US IEEE C and K_u bands respectively).^[2]

See also

• AMC-14

References