ProtoStar 1 → Intelsat 25 [SSL]
China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation (ChinaSat) has contracted with Space Systems/Loral for ChinaSat 8, a.k.a. ZX 8 (Zhongxing 8), a high-powered satellite that will provide video, data, and digital voice communications for China.
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) designed and built ChinaSat 8, to launch and deliver it on orbit on a CZ-3B rocket in mid-1999, but export regulations delayed the launch. Eventually it might be launched on a non-chinese launch vehicle to avoid the export regulations. Otherwise it could be sold, if the export regulations can not be resolved.
Loral announced in February 2005 that it has reached a settlement with ChinaSat regarding the Space Systems/Loral-built ChinaSat 8 satellite and its launch. SS/L had no obligation to deliver the ChinaSat 8 satellite until all required export licenses are received. ChinaSat was to withdraw all claims filed against SS/L and release it from any related liabilities. Furthermore, ChinaSat has the right under the settlement to assign its rights in the satellite contract to a third party.
ProtoStar has signed in 2006 definitive agreements with China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation to purchase a completed but un-launched satellite and with Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications Inc., to tailor the satellite's components for the proposed footprint over Asia. ProtoStar expects to complete construction and launch the satellite, renamed ProtoStar I, in early 2008.
ProtoStar 1 carries 16 Ku-band channels at 125 watts per channel, and 36 C-band channels at 37 Watts each. ProtoStar 1 is a high-powered version of SS/L's three-axis, body-stabilized SSL-1300 platform.
In October 2009 the satellite was sold in an auction to Intelsat after the ProtoStar venture succumbed to multiple frequency-coordination issues. The satellite was renamed Intelsat 25.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Communication |
Operator: | ProtoStar |
Contractors: | Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) |
Equipment: | 16 (+6) Ku-band transponders, 36 (+2) C-band transponders |
Configuration: | SSL-1300 |
Propulsion: | ? |
Power: | 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | 17 years |
Mass: | 4100 kg |
Orbit: | GEO |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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ProtoStar 1 -> Intelsat 25 (ex ZX 8, ChinaSat 8) | 2008-034A | 07.07.2008 | Ko ELA-3 | Ariane-5ECA | with Arabsat 4AR (Badr 6) |