Mission type Communication COSPAR ID 1997-036A Spacecraft Superbird-C Launch date 28 July 1997 Inclination 6.2° Manufacturer Hughes Aircraft Company | SATCAT no. 24880 Launch mass 3,130 kg (6,900 lb) Inclination 6.2° Rocket Atlas II Bus Boeing 601 | |
Similar Superbird‑B2, JCSAT‑2A, Nahuel 1A, IndoStar‑1, Galaxy 10R | ||
Superbird-C, was a geostationary communications satellite ordered and operated by Space Communications Corporation (SCC) that was designed and manufactured by Hughes (now Boeing) on the HS-601 platform. It has a pure Ku band payload and was used fill the position at 144°East longitude. It provided television signals and business communications services throughout Japan, southern and eastern Asia, and Hawaii.
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Satellite description
The spacecraft was designed and manufactured by then Hughes (now Boeing) on the HSS-601 satellite bus. It had a launch mass of 3,150 kg (6,940 lb) and a 13-year design life. When stowed for launch, it measured 4 m × 3.8 m × 2.4 m (13.1 ft × 12.5 ft × 7.9 ft). It had two wings with four solar panels each, that generated 4.5 kW at the end of its design life. When fully deployed, the solar panels spanned 26.2 m (86 ft), with its antennas in fully extended configuration it was 7.5 m (25 ft) wide. It had a 29-cell NiH2 battery with a power charge of 200Ah.
Its propulsion system was composed of an R-4D-11-300 LAE with a thrust of 490 N (110 lbf). It also used had 12 22 N (4.9 lbf) bipropellant thrusters for station keeping and attitude control. It included enough propellant for orbit circularization and 13 years of operation.
Its payload is composed of two 85 in (2.2 m) dual-gridded reflectors and twenty four Ku band transponders powered by TWTA with and output power of 90 Watts. It can configure two 54 MHz transponders into one 114 MHz with an effective 180 Watts.
The Ku band footprint covered Japan, southern and eastern Asia, and Hawaii.
History
Space Communications Corporation (SCC) was founded in 1985, the same year as the original companies that later formed JSAT. SCC switched satellite suppliers and on 1995 ordered a satellite from Boeing, Superbird-C.
On July 28, 1997 at 01:15:00 UTC, Superbird-C was orbited by an Atlas IIAS launched from Cape Canaveral LC-36B.
Superbird-C It was replaced by Superbird-C2 during 2008, at which point it was decommissioned.