After there successful launch last night from French Guiana, South America, both satellites appear to be doing well. After 10 days of maneuvering the Hughes built PAS-3R spacecraft will be placed into geosynchronous orbit at 43 degrees West longitude over the equator. Following a few weeks of testing, the satellite will go into service. PAS-3 will operate in both C- and Ku-band with 16 active transponders in each frequency range.
MEASAT-1 will arrive on orbit after 10 days and will be positioned at 91.5 degrees East longitude as its operational location. Testing of the Hughes built spacecraft should be completed in a few weeks. Owned by Binariang Sdn Bhd, a private company, the satellite will provide the first direct-to-user (DTU) service in Malaysia, as well as general communication services in areas covering the East Asian region.
MEASAT-1 has four high-power Ku-band transponders for DTU service. In addition, 12 C-band transponders will perform regional service. Both satellites were built at Hughes facilities in El Segundo, Calif. In addition, Hughes supplied equipment for a satellite control station on Malaysia's Langkawi Island and trained the Malaysian spacecraft controllers.
The 82nd Ariane launch vehicle blasted off into space from French Guiana, South America, Friday, January 12th, and placed a U.S. and Malaysian communications satellite into orbit. The Ariane 44L rocket equipped with four liquid strap-on boosters, the most powerful in the Ariane rocket series, blasted off at 6:10 p.m. eastern time (2310 UTC) from the European Space Agency (ESA) launch center in Kourou on South America's northeast coast. Twenty-six minutes later, the rocket released the PANAMSAT-3R satellite for the Greenwich, Connecticut-based operator PanAmSat and MEASAT-1, the first Malaysia telecommunications satellite.
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