Intelsat Americas 8 [SSL]
Telstar 8 and 9, both hybrid C-, Ka-, and Ku-band spacecraft, are scheduled for launch in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Skynet's customers use the satellites in a wide variety of applications, ranging from cable and direct-to-home television to Internet applications, to news gathering, distance learning, business TV, and telephony.
Built by SS/L for Loral Skynet, Telstar-8 is one of the most powerful communications satellites ever designed. It is the first to be built on SS/L's extended 1300 bus (SSL-1300S) and will carry 92 transponders with a total end-of-life power of 16 kw. The payload includes 36 Ku-band, 22 C-band, and 24 Ka-band active transponders, providing coverage across North and South America.
Loral anounced in July 2003 a definite agreement to sell Telstar 8 to Intelsat, renaming the satellite in turn to Intelsat Americas 8 (IA 8). Intelsat changed the name of the Intelsat Americas 8 satellites to Galaxy 28 effective to 1 February 2007.
Galaxy 28's C-band payload will be replaced in 2022 by Galaxy 36 under the C-band transition program.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Communication |
Operator: | Intelsat |
Contractors: | Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) |
Equipment: | 22 C-band transponders, 36 Ku-Band transponders, 24 Ka-band transponders |
Configuration: | SSL-1300S |
Propulsion: | R-4D-11, 4 × SPT-100 plasma thrusters |
Power: | 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | |
Mass: | 5493 kg |
Orbit: | GEO |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intelsat Americas 8 (IA 8, ex Telstar 8) → Galaxy 28 | 2005-022A | 23.06.2005 | SL | Zenit-3SL (1) | ||
Telstar 9 | - | cancelled | cancelled |