AsiaSat

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd.
Industry Satellite communication
Founded 1988
Headquarters Hong Kong
Website www.asiasat.com

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (commonly AsiaSat, SEHK: 1135) is a commercial operator of communication spacecraft. AsiaSat is based in Hong Kong with two major shareholders, CITIC (34.8 per cent) and General Electric (34.1 per cent).

History

In December 2013, AsiaSat commissioned AsiaSat 9—to be built by Space Systems/Loral[1]—originally intending it to be launched in 2017.[2] However, by March 2015, the scheduled launch date had been moved up to mid-2016 in order to replace AsiaSat4 at 122 degrees east.[1]

In early 2015, AsiaSat reported a nine percent revenue drop, and a 27 percent drop in contracts, pointing to a regional oversupply of satellite communication services in the Asian regions it serves.[1] At that time, AsiaSat had four commsats in operation and had recently launched two more—AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat8—which had added 22 percent additional bandwidth capacity into the shrinking market. Although revenues were down just nine percent—to HK$1365 billion—2014 profits declined by 25 percent over 2013, to HK$559 million.[1]

Launch history and future plans

This is a list of AsiaSat satellites, both launched and planned for future launch.

AsiaSat satellites
Satellite Launch Date
(UTC)
Rocket Launch Site Contractor Longitude Status Notes Ref.
AsiaSat 1 7 April 1990 China Long March 3 China Xichang LC-3 China CASC Decommissioned Launched as Westar 6 on Space Shuttle mission STS-41B, became stranded in orbit, was retrieved by Space Shuttle mission STS-51A in November 1984, sold to AsiaSat.
AsiaSat 2 28 November 1995 China Long March 2E China Xichang LC-2 China CASC 100.5° East Decommissioned
AsiaSat 3 24 December 1997 Russia Proton-K / DM-2M Kazakhstan Baikonur Site 81/23 Russia United States ILS 105.5° East (intended)
158° West (1998)
62° West (1999-2002)
Decommissioned Transferred to Hughes Global Services
AsiaSat 3S 21 March 1999 Russia Proton-K / DM-2M Kazakhstan Baikonur Site 81/23 Russia United States ILS 105.5° East In Service Replaced AsiaSat 1 in May 1999. [3]
AsiaSat 4 12 April 2003 United States Atlas IIIB United States Cape Canaveral LC-36B Russia United States ILS 122° East In Service [4]
AsiaSat 5 11 August 2009 Russia Proton-M / Briz-M Kazakhstan Baikonur Site 200/39 Russia United States ILS 100.5° East In Service A replacement satellite for AsiaSat 2 [5]
AsiaSat 6 7 September 2014 United States Falcon 9 v1.1 United States Cape Canaveral SLC-40 United States SpaceX 120° East In Service [6]
AsiaSat 7 25 November 2011 Russia Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced Kazakhstan Baikonur Site 200/39 Russia United States ILS 105.5° East In Service To replace AsiaSat 3S at the orbital location of 105.5° East in late 2014. [7]
AsiaSat 8 5 August 2014 United States Falcon 9 v1.1 United States Cape Canaveral SLC-40 United States SpaceX 105.5° East In Service AsiaSat satellite with multiple Ku beams. [8]
AsiaSat 9 2016 (Planned) 122° East Planned Being built 2013–2015 to be launched in mid-2016. Will replace AsiaSat 4 at 122 degrees east. [1][2]
AsiaSat G Planned

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 de Selding, Peter B. (2015-03-27). "AsiaSat Results Reflect Troop Withdrawals, Capacity Glut". Space News. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 "AsiaSat: About Us". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  3. "AsiaSat 3S". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  4. "AsiaSat 4". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  5. "AsiaSat 5". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  6. "AsiaSat 6". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  7. "AsiaSat 7". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  8. "AsiaSat 8". AsiaSat. Retrieved 7 January 2014.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, October 19, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.