Two Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) satellites with the highest capacity of any commercial payloads in space were delivered on orbit in 1995 and 1996 and are now providing a variety of fixed and mobile domestic communications services to customers throughout Japan. These satellites, N-STAR-a and -b, replace the service of the SS/L CS satellites, which have now exceeded their expected lifetimes, and will also provide significant new services, which range from providing alternate routes for telephony, to emergency communications, to marine and terrestrial mobile services, and ISDN.
Geostationary OrbitForeseeing the growth of the communications business, Japan Satellite Systems, Inc., (JSAT) of Tokyo signed a contract in October 1993 for a Hughes HS-601 satellite from Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc. The satellite, JCSAT-3, was designed to relay voice, data, and television signals via Ku-band to eastern Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and India; and via C-band to eastern and southern Asia and Hawaii.
Geostationary OrbitThe CTA GEMStar 1 (VITASAT 1) satellite partially sponsored by Volunteers In Technical Assistance (VITA) of Arlington Virginia, was launched at 2230 UTC from Vandenberg AFB on the 15-Aug-95, but a second stage failure destroyed the first flight of the Lockheed LLV-1 launch vehicle (later dubbed Athena-1).
Low Earth OrbitKoreasat 1 and 2, also known as Mugunghwa 1 and 2, were South Korean communications satellite launched by Delta-7925 rockets from Cape Canaveral. They were based on the Lockheed AS-3000 bus and carried 15 Ku-band transponders to provide TV coverage for South Korea and other Asian countries.
Geostationary OrbitIn November 1991, PanAmSat Corporation ordered three Hughes HS-601 model PAS (PanAmSat) satellites from Hughes Space and Communications Company. The satellites provide video services for program distribution and syndication; data services for business applications; and services for video, radio, data and telephone transmission. They were placed over the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, respectively. In August 1993, PanAmSat ordered a fourth satellite, to be used as a spare. The spare was pressed into service to replace the first PAS-3 spacecraft, which was lost during a launch vehicle failure.
Geostationary OrbitThe Interball Project is a multi-national effort that consists of four spacecraft: two main spacecraft of the Prognoz series, made in Russia, each with a small subsatellite (Magion) made in Czechoslovakia. The main objective is to study the physical mechanisms responsible for the transmission of solar wind energy to the magnetosphere, its storage there, and subsequent dissipation in the tail and auroral regions of the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere during magnetospheric substorms.
Elliptical OrbitDSCS-3 (Defense Satellite Communications System 3) are geostationary communications satellites, which provide a robust anti-jam, nuclear hardened capability that supports Department of Defense (DoD) worldwide requirements, White House and Diplomatic communications. They are the follow-on generation of the DSCS-2 satellites.
Geostationary Orbit