 | FS-1300
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Class: Communications. Destination: Geosynchronous Orbit. Nation: USA. Agency: Various. Manufacturer: Space Systems. The 1300 was Space Systems/Loral's space-proven platform for a wide range of services, although its primary use was for geosynchronous communications satellites. From its first flight in 1989, it underwent constant evolutionary development to deliver greater power, communications capability, and longer useful life. Sales continued brisk well into the 21st Century. Total satellite power was from 5 to 12 kW continuously throughout the life of the spacecraft. On-board transmitter power - exceeding 5,000 RF watts -- could accommodate as many as 70 active transponders. Launch masses ranged up to 5,500 kg and the spacecraft was equipped with a bipropellant propulsion system. The 1300S version provided up to 40 percent greater capacity than the 1300. Total satellite power ranged from 12 to 18 kW throughout the life of the spacecraft. On-board transmitter power - approaching 10,000 RF watts -- could accommodate as many as 90 active transponders. Launch masses up to 6,700 kilograms were possible and the spacecraft was equipped with an ion station-keeping engine to supplement the bipropellant propulsion system. Some FS 1300 series satellites were retired after 17 years of successful service, more than twice their design life. A 4 m diameter payload fairing was required. Design Life: 10-15 years. Typical orbit: Geosynchronous. Mass: 6,700 kg (14,700 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Ariane 42P, Ariane 44L, Ariane 44LP, Ariane 44P, Ariane 5G, Atlas IIA, Atlas IIAS, Atlas IIIA, CZ-3B, H-2, Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01, Zenit-3SL.
FS-1300 Chronology
- 1993 October 22 - Intelsat 701 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44LP. Mass: 3,650 kg (8,040 lb). Perigee: 35,769 km (22,225 mi). Apogee: 35,802 km (22,246 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
International communications. The Intelsat 7 and 7A series were nearly identical except for an increase in the number of Ku-band transponders in the 7A series. Spacecraft: 3-axis stabilised. Hydrazine propulsion system. Two large solar panels with 1-axis articulation provide 3900W BOL. Payload: 7: 26 C-Band and 10 Ku-Band transponders.18,000 telephone calls and 3 colour TV broadcasts simultaneously. Or up to 90,000 telephone circuits using digital circuit multiplication equipment (DCME).7A: 26 C-Band and 14 Ku-Band transponders.22,500 telephone calls and 3 colour TV broadcasts simultaneously. Or up to 112,500 telephone circuits using DCME. Three independently steerable, high-powered, Ku-band spot beams. Independently steerable C-band spot beam coverage. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 121 deg E in 1993; 174 deg E in 1994-1997; 180 deg W in 1997-1999 As of 6 September 2001 located at 179.91 deg W drifting at 0.004 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 179.97W drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.
- 1994 October 6 - Intelsat 703 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas IIAS. Mass: 3,656 kg (8,060 lb). Perigee: 35,779 km (22,231 mi). Apogee: 35,792 km (22,240 mi). Inclination: 0.0400 deg. Period: 1,436.07 min.
38 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders. Initially positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 177 deg E in 1994-1996. Then reassigned to Intelsat subsidiary New Skies, redesignated NSS 703, and moved to 57 deg E after 1996. At the crossroads of three continents, NSS-703 provided cross-connectivity for Europe, Africa and Asia. NSS-703 was used for video contribution from Europe to India and Africa, and was capable of bringing signals from London to India and Australia in one hop. NSS-703's coverage included a global beam, and two C-band hemispheric beams, which covered Africa and the triangle from Eastern Iran to Japan and Australia, including all of India and China. Three steerable Ku-band spot beams targeted Europe and Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan-Pakistan-North India. Expected end of life March 2009. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 56.96E drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.
- 1996 February 14 - Intelsat 708 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Xichang. Launch Vehicle: CZ-3B. FAILURE: Guidance failure resulted in launch vehicle crashing 22 seconds after launch, killing or injuring 59 people.
First attempted launch of a new version in the Long March family. Began to experience an anomaly in attitude about 2 seconds after launch, pitching down and yawing to the right. It augured in nose down at T+22 seconds and exploded violently, utterly destroying the launcher and its payload. The Chief-Designer of the launch vehicle organised an analysis team on the same day of the accident. Interpretation and analysis of the telemetered data indicated that the crash was caused by a change in the inertial reference. The explosion killed six and injured 57. Two of the killed were senior engineers with CASC.
- 1999 February 15 - Telstar 6 - Program: Telstar. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01. Mass: 3,700 kg (8,100 lb). Perigee: 35,781 km (22,233 mi). Apogee: 35,792 km (22,240 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg.
Loral Skynet's Telstar 6 had a mixed C and Ku band communications payload. The Block DM3 upper stage released Telstar 6 in a 6638 km x 35,756 km x 17.4 degree geosynchronous transfer orbit. After the first burn of its on-board R-4D engine on February 18, Telstar 6 was in a 15,037 km x 35,800 km x 7.9 deg transfer orbit heading for its final geosynchronous slot at 93 deg W Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 93 deg W in 1999. As of 2 September 2001 located at 93.01 deg W drifting at 0.004 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 93.03W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.
- 1999 September 23 - Echostar 5 - Program: Echostar. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas IIAS. Perigee: 35,777 km (22,230 mi). Apogee: 35,795 km (22,241 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
The Centaur second stage put Echostar 5 into a supersynchronous transfer orbit of 131 km x 45526 km x 26.6 degrees. The satellite's own engine put it into the final geosynchronous orbit. Echostar 5 was a Ku-band satellite, part of the Dish Network. Stationed at 110 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 110 deg W in 1999. As of 5 September 2001 located at 110.01 deg W drifting at 0.003 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 128.86W drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.
- 1999 September 25 - Telstar 7 - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44LP. Mass: 3,790 kg (8,350 lb). Perigee: 35,778 km (22,231 mi). Apogee: 35,794 km (22,241 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Telstar 7, owned by Loral Skynet, had 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders. Dry mass was 1537 kg. After placement in final geosynchronous orbit it provided communications for North America from a position at 129 degrees East longitude. Sold to Intelsat in March 2004 and renamed IA-7. The satellite had a power failure on November 28, 2004 and was briefly declared lost. Intelsat recovered control of the satellite by December 4. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 129.01W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.
- 2000 June 30 - Sirius 1 - Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01. Mass: 3,800 kg (8,300 lb). Perigee: 24,465 km (15,201 mi). Apogee: 47,107 km (29,270 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Digital Audio Radio Satellite, used for transmission of S-band radio broadcasts direct to receivers in cars in the United States. Sirius 1 was inserted into an initial 6,166 x 47110 km x 63.4 deg transfer orbit by the Proton-K's Blok DM3 upper stage. The satellite's R4D liquid apogee engine made several burns to raise the orbit to 24,388 x 47,097 km x 63.3 deg by July 8. This elliptical, inclined 24 hour orbit had a 24 hour period, designed to keep the satellite between longitude 60W and 140W, with apogee over the northern hemisphere. Stationed at 66 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 66 deg W in 2000. As of 6 September 2001 located at 65.59 deg W drifting at 0.015 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 65.37W drifting at 0.004E degrees per day.
- 2000 May 3 - GOES 11 - Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas IIA. Mass: 2,217 kg (4,887 lb). Perigee: 35,786 km (22,236 mi). Apogee: 35,796 km (22,242 mi). Inclination: 0.40 deg. Period: 1,436.30 min.
US civilian geostationary weather satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series. It was the first GOES launch on the Atlas II launch vehicle (the Atlas I having been phased out). Built by SS/Loral, based on the FS-1300 bus. It was equipped with one solar panel array and a counter-boom with a solar sail. The satellite carried well as an imaging radiometer and an X-ray detector to monitor solar activity. Stationed at 106 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 104 deg W in 2000. As of 5 September 2001 located at 108.58 deg W drifting at 0.018 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 135.52W drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.
- 2000 October 29 - EuropeStar F1 - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44LP. Mass: 4,167 kg (9,186 lb). Perigee: 35,773 km (22,228 mi). Apogee: 35,800 km (22,200 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg.
100th Ariane 4 launch. Communications satellite, stationed at 45 deg E. Europeon.Star FM1 was a Loral FS-1300 model with a launch mass of 4167 kg and a dry mass of 1717 kg. The satellite had two cruciform solar arrays. The Ariane booster placed it into a geostationary transfer orbit. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 45 deg E in 2000. As of 4 September 2001 located at 44.95 deg E drifting at 0.011 deg E per day. As of 2007 Feb 23 located at 44.97E drifting at 0.001W degrees per day.
- 2001 August 30 - Intelsat 902 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44L. Mass: 4,725 kg (10,416 lb). Perigee: 35,771 km (22,227 mi). Apogee: 35,801 km (22,245 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Launch delayed from August 24. The Intelsat 902 geosynchronous communications satellite was stationed initially over the Indian Ocean, providing coverage to Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia through its 44 C- and 12 Ku-band transponders. The Loral FS-1300 satellite had a dry mass of 1978 kg and carried a further 2745 kg of propellant at launch. As of 4 September 2001 located at 56.46 deg E drifting at 0.118 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 61.96E drifting at 0.002E degrees per day.
- 2001 July 23 - GOES 12 - Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Atlas IIA. Mass: 2,105 kg (4,640 lb). Perigee: 35,769 km (22,225 mi). Apogee: 35,813 km (22,253 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.30 min.
Launch delayed from July 12, 15 and 22. The GOES-M weather satellite was placed by the Atlas AC-142 Centaur stage into a 164 x 505 km parking orbit and then a super synchronous transfer orbit of 274 x 42275 km x 20 deg. GOES-M was a Loral 1300-series satellite with a single solar array and a solar attitude control sail. Launch mass was 2279 kg and dry mass 1042 kg. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites were developed by NASA-Goddard and were transferred to the NOAA weather agency when operational. In addition to the usual weather imager/sounder, GOES-M carried a new solar soft X-ray imager. Earlier GOES satellites carried simple X-ray collimator detectors, but the new SXI was a full-fledged grazing incidence telescope similar to the SXT on Japan's Yohkoh satellite. The GOES-M satellite was redesignated GOES 12 once in orbit. GOES 12 was a 980 kg, 973 W spacecraft that carried an IR imager, a "sounder", and an X-ray imager. The IR imager was a Cassegrain telescope covering five wavelength channels, 0.55-0.75, 3.80-4.00, 6.50-7.00, 10.20-11.20, and 11.50-12.50 microns. It provided images covering 3,000 km x 3,000 km every 41 seconds, by scanning the area in 16 square kilometer sections. The "sounder" provided vertical distribution of temperature, moisture and ozone, by passive monitoring in 18 depth-dependent wavelengths. (Long wave IR: 14.71, 14.37, 14.06, 13.64, 13.37, 12.66, and 12.02 microns. Medium wave IR: 11.03, 9.71, 7.43, 7.02, and 6.51 microns. Short wave IR: 4.57, 4.52, 4.45, 4.13, 3.98, and 3.74 microns. There was also another band at visible wavelength 0.7 microns, to provide pictures of cloud tops.) The sounder covered an area of 3,000 km x 3,000 km in about 42 minutes. Another instrument package named SEM (Space Environment Monitor) monitored the energetic electrons and protons in the magnetosphere and the X-rays from the Sun. The above three had been carried on the earlier GOES missions, but GOES 12 carried also an X-ray imager providing an X-ray (about 0.1-1.0 nm wavelength) picture of the solar disk. For some months, the spacecraft was to be on standby, to be activated and moved to a desired longitude. As of 5 September 2001 located at 89.93 deg W drifting at 0.001 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 74.73W drifting at 0.014E degrees per day.
- 2001 June 9 - Intelsat 901 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44L. Mass: 4,725 kg (10,416 lb). Perigee: 35,770 km (22,220 mi). Apogee: 35,804 km (22,247 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Launch delayed from June 8. The first of the Intelsat 9 series provided telecommunications (Internet, video and telephone) services from a geosynchronous position at 18 deg W over the Atlantic Ocean. Intelsat 901 was an FS-1300HL, an improved version of the long-standing Space Systems/Loral (originally Aeronutronic Ford) FS-1300 platform. The satellite was to provide voice and video services to Europe and the Americas through 44 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders. The satellite had C-band beams for the Atlantic region and a Ku-band spot beam for Europe, and an R-4D liquid apogee engine. Dry mass was 1972 kg and launch mass of 4723 kg. The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO), beginning with its first satellite, Early Bird (1965-028A), had as of this date successfully launched 54 satellites, 19 of which were operational. As of 27 August 2001 located at 54.26 deg W drifting at 1.105 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 18.01W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.
- 2002 August 22 - Echostar 8 - Program: Echostar. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01. Mass: 4,660 kg (10,270 lb). Perigee: 35,774 km (22,228 mi). Apogee: 35,799 km (22,244 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Launch delayed from June 16 and 22, July 18, August 2 and 20 due to payload problems. Echostar 8 was an American geostationary communication spacecraft. The 4.7-ton satellite was to provide digital TV broadcast to North America through its 16 spot beams and 41 transponders in the Ku-band after parking over 110° W longitude. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 110.01W drifting at 0.003W degrees per day.
- 2002 June 5 - Intelsat 905 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44L. Mass: 4,723 kg (10,412 lb). Perigee: 35,776 km (22,230 mi). Apogee: 35,799 km (22,244 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Intelsat 905 was launched into a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite had a mass of 1984 kg with 2739 kg of propellant and was built by Loral for the privatized Intelsat company. It was to be stationed over the Atlantic. The Intelsat 905 satellite used a new version of the venerable General Dynamics R-4D bipropellant engine, the R-4D-15 HiPAT (High Performance Apogee Thruster) with a thrust of 445N. The first two HiPATs were built by Marquardt/Van Nuys, but new ones were built at GD's Redmond site. By June 15, I-905 was in a 35642 x 35793 km x 0.1 deg geostationary drift orbit at 26 deg W. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 24.48W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.
- 2002 March 30 - Intelsat 903 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01. Mass: 4,726 kg (10,419 lb). Perigee: 35,776 km (22,230 mi). Apogee: 35,797 km (22,243 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Communications satellite. Moved from Proton M to Proton K booster. Launch delayed from November 26, 2001, and March 4, 2002. The three stage Proton booster put the DM3 upper stage and payload on a suborbital trajectory. The first DM3 burn reached a circular 160 km orbit at 1742 UTC. The second burn at 1838 UTC raised apogee to about 35800 km, and a third burn near apogee at 2339 UTC raised perigee to about 3500 km and lowered inclination to 25 deg. Blok DM3 separated from the Intelsat 903 payload at 0008 UTC on March 31. By April 5, Intelsat 903 was in a 31653 x 35817 km x 0.7 deg near-synchronous orbit. Intelsat 903 had a launch mass of 4726 kg and a dry mass around 2350 kg, and carried C and Ku band antennas. It was built by SS/Loral using a derivative of the FS-1300 platform. As of 2007 Mar 5 located at 34.50W drifting at 0.011W degrees per day.
- 2002 May 7 - DirecTV-5 - Program: DirecTV. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Proton 8K82K / 11S861-01. Mass: 3,640 kg (8,020 lb). Perigee: 35,774 km (22,228 mi). Apogee: 35,799 km (22,244 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Direct Broadcasting satellite. Launch delayed from October 2000, February, May 21 and October19, 2001, as the user and launch provider moved the payload from Proton to Atlas 2AS and then back again to Proton. The DM3 upper stage made two burns to put the DirecTV satellite in a 6568 x 35809 km x 17.7 deg transfer orbit. The Loral FS-1300 class satellite used its R-4D apogee engine to reach geostationary orbit at 129 W by May 19. The DirecTV satellite broadcasting company was a subsidiary of GM/Hughes. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 110.11W drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.
- 2002 September 6 - Intelsat 906 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44L. Mass: 4,723 kg (10,412 lb). Perigee: 35,765 km (22,223 mi). Apogee: 35,808 km (22,250 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Intelsat 906 was a geostationary communications spacecraft of the international Intelsat consortium (privatised as Intelsat Ltd.). It was to provide Internet, telephony, and television broadcasts to Europe, Asia, and Australia through its 72 C- and 22 Ku-band transponders after being parked over 64° E longitude. It replaced Intelsat 804 which was to then be moved to 176° E to handle the increased cross-Atlantic demand. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 64.19E drifting at 0.001W degrees per day.
- 2003 August 8 - Echostar 9 (Telstar 13) - Program: Echostar. Launch Site: Kiritimati. Launch Vehicle: Zenit-3SL. Mass: 4,737 kg (10,443 lb). Perigee: 35,764 km (22,222 mi). Apogee: 35,809 km (22,250 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Originally to have launched December 2002. Echostar 9 carried a Ku and Ka band communications payload for Echostar, and a C-band payload owned by Loral Skynet but about to be sold to Intelsat. Loral called the satellite Telstar 13. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 121.04W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.
- 2003 February 15 - Intelsat 907 - Program: Intelsat. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44L. Mass: 4,685 kg (10,328 lb). Perigee: 35,785 km (22,235 mi). Apogee: 35,789 km (22,238 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Final Ariane 4 launch. Intelsat 907 was scheduled to be in service March 2003 and provide enhanced C-band coverage for the Americas, Africa and Europe and high-power Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and Africa. The satellite replaced Intelsat 605 at 332.5 deg E. With more than twice the Ku-band power, Intelsat 907 would support corporate broadcast distribution and broadband applications including high speed Internet access, multicasting and streaming. Users of the new satellite would require 1.0 m Ku-band antennae to access the satellite. Flexible transponder activation allowed use of Ku-Band for 14 out of 16 channels. With a total of up to 76 C-Band 36 MHz equivalent unit transponders, Intelsat 907 provided 19% more capacity than the satellite it replaced. C-band footprints included full coverage of South and Central America, broad coverage over Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and connectivity to North America. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 27.53W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.
- 2003 June 11 - Optus and Defence 1 - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G. Mass: 4,725 kg (10,416 lb). Perigee: 35,770 km (22,220 mi). Apogee: 35,803 km (22,246 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Satellite jointly owned by Singtel Optus Pty and the Australian Dept. of Defense. Previous satellites in the series were purely civilian and didn't carry the dedicated defence communications equipment. Prime contractor for the satellie was Mitsubishi, using a Loral FS-1300 bus with UHF, X-band and Ka-band communications transponders. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 109.87E drifting at 0.009W degrees per day.
- 2005 February 12 - XTAR-EUR - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5 EC-A. Mass: 3,631 kg (8,004 lb). Perigee: 35,778 km (22,231 mi). Apogee: 35,794 km (22,241 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Return to flight of Ariane 5 EC-A after booster failure on first launch. Delayed from April, June, September 28, October 28, November 3 and 8, 2004; and February 11, 2005. XTAR-EUR was a Spanish X-band military communications satellite operated by Hisdesat/XTAR of Spain. It had a dry mass of 1412 kg and 2219 kg of propellant. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 28.95E drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.
- 2005 February 26 - Himawari 6 - Launch Site: Tanegashima. Launch Vehicle: H-2A. Mass: 3,300 kg (7,200 lb). Perigee: 35,778 km (22,231 mi). Apogee: 35,798 km (22,243 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.20 min.
Return to flight after earlier failure; first commercial mission for H-2A. Delayed from August 2003, January 2004, and February 24, 2005. The dual-purpose satellite was to provide weather data for the Japanese Meteorological Agency (as with others in the Himawari-GMS series), and air traffic control support (airplane-ATC voice/data links, GPS augmentation and airplane position tracking) for the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 140.26E drifting at 0.000E degrees per day.
- 2005 June 23 - Intelsat Americas 8 - Launch Site: Kiritimati. Launch Vehicle: Zenit-3SL. Mass: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb). Perigee: 35,779 km (22,231 mi). Apogee: 35,795 km (22,241 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Delayed since 2002; most recently delayed from December 4 and 17, 2004. Communications satellite with Ku-, C- and Ka-band transponders, owned by Intelsat, which had been privatized. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 89.01W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.
- 2006 December 8 - WildBlue 1 - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5 EC-A. Mass: 4,735 kg (10,438 lb). Perigee: 35,780 km (22,230 mi). Apogee: 35,792 km (22,240 mi). Inclination: 0.0200 deg. Period: 1,436.08 min.
Broadband internet satellite, using the Ka-band satellite. Dry mass 2000 kg. At separation of the Ariane core the stack was in a -1282 km x 233 km x 6.9 deg suborbital trajectory. The ESC-A upper stage fired to put the satellites in a geostationary transfer orbit of 265 km x 35700 km x 2.0 deg. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 111.14W drifting at 0.004W degrees per day.
Bibliography and Further Reading
- Vladimirov, A, Novosti kosmonavtiki, "Tablitsa zapuskov RN 'Proton' i 'Proton K'", 1998, Issue 10, page 25.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. Essential internet newsletter recording worldwide weekly space events. Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
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