AsiaSat 5 Spacecraft Separation Successfully Completed

(Photo courtesy of International Launch Services)


Hong Kong, 12 August 2009 – AsiaSat 5, a new generation communications satellite of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), was launched at Hong Kong Time 3:47:33 a.m. on the 12th August on an ILS Proton launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

9 hours and 15 minutes after liftoff, AsiaSat 5 successfully separated from the launch vehicle. AsiaSat in Hong Kong has acquired the first signals from the satellite. Over the next few days, the satellite will arrive at the geostationary orbit, some 36,000 km above the Equator.

“We are extremely pleased that AsiaSat 5 has successfully completed this stage of the launch. We gratefully thank our partners - International Launch Services, Khrunichev and Space Systems/Loral for their diligence, dedication and professionalism that contribute to this launch success,” said Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat.

“We look forward to serving our AsiaSat 2 users with enhanced power and coverage on AsiaSat 5. In addition, with the added capacity and new coverage beams onboard AsiaSat 5, we shall further expand our services into new areas and offer more comprehensive backup services across AsiaSat fleet.”

Based on a Space Systems/Loral‟s 1300 satellite bus, AsiaSat 5 is designed to replace AsiaSat 2 at the orbital location of 100.5 degrees East, and to provide advanced satellite services including television broadcast, telephone networks and VSAT networks for broadband multimedia services across Asia Pacific.

AsiaSat 5 will carry 26 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders, and has a design life of 15 years. AsiaSat 5 will offer an enhanced pan Asian C-band footprint that covers more than 53 countries spanning from Russia to New Zealand and from Japan to the Middle East and parts of Africa. In addition to a powerful Ku-band East Asia beam, the new satellite will offer two new Ku-band beams – the South Asia beam and a steerable beam to satisfy market demands.

Source:
Asiasat.Com