Girish Mahajan (Editor)

AsiaSat 2

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COSPAR ID
  
1995-064A

Bus
  
AS-7000

Rocket
  
Chang Zheng 2E/FG-46

Launch mass
  
3,379 kg

Mission duration
  
13 years

Mission type
  
Communications satellite

Website
  
AsiaSat Fleet

Manufacturer
  
Astro Space

Period
  
24 hours

Launch mass
  
3,379 kg

Launch date
  
28 November 1995

Operator
  
AsiaSat (1995—) Spacecom (2009—)

Similar
  
PAS‑22, INSAT‑2E, Apstar VI, INSAT‑3C, INSAT‑3A

AsiaSat 2 is a Hong Kong communications satellite, which is owned, and was initially operated, by the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It is currently positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 17° East of the Greenwich Meridian, on lease to Spacecom. 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 and the Pacific Ocean.

Launch

The launch of AsiaSat 2 was contracted by the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, and used a Long March 2E rocket with an FG-46 upper stage. It was the maiden flight of the FG-46, and the first Chinese launch since the Apstar II failure, which killed a number of villagers in January 1995. The launch was conducted from Launch Area 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at 11:30:05 GMT on 28 November 1995. The launch had previously been delayed twice; first from December 1994 due to the failure of Telstar 402, which was based on the same satellite bus as AsiaSat 2, and subsequently whilst the Apstar launch failure was investigated.

AsiaSat 2 was built by Astro Space, which by the time of its launch had become part of Lockheed Martin. It is based on the AS-7000 satellite bus. At launch, it had a mass of 3,379 kilograms (7,449 lb), and a design life of thirteen years. It carries twenty four G/H band and nine J band transponders (NATO frequency designation system, US IEEE C and Ku bands respectively). It was replaced by AsiaSat 5 in 2009, and in September 2009 it was leased to Israeli operator Spacecom. 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

AsiaSat 2 Wikipedia