AsiaSat selects Hughes to build replacement

17 Jun 2002

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company, Ltd. (AsiaSat) has selected Hughes Space and Communications International, inc., to build a replacement satellite for AsiaSat 3, which was launched in Kazakhstan Dec. 25 but did not reach orbit after the upper stage of its rocket failed. AsiaSat 3S will be an exact replica of AsiaSat 3 and will increase AsiaSat's capacility to distribute television and telecommunications services to Asia, the Middle East, Australasia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The geostationary orbiting satellite will carry 28 active C-band transponders using 55-watt traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) and 16 active Ku-band transponders using 138-watt TWTAs.