PAS-6 was a communications satellite owned by PanAmSat and serving the South America market.

Satellite description

PAS-6 was constructed by Space Systems/Loral, based on the

LS-1300 The SSL 1300, previously the LS-1300 and the FS-1300, is a satellite bus produced by Maxar Technologies. Total broadcast power ranges from 5 to 25 kW, and the platform can accommodate from 12 to 150 transponders. The SSL 1300 is a modular platf ...

satellite bus. It had a mass at launch of . Designed for an operational life of 15 years, the spacecraft was equipped with 36 Ku-band transponders.

Launch

Arianespace launched PAS-6, using an Ariane 4 launch vehicle, flight number V98, in the Ariane 44P H10-3 configuration. The launch took place from ELA-2 at the

Centre Spatial Guyanais The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

, at Kourou in French Guiana, on 8 August 1997, at 06:46:00 UTC.

Decommissioning

On 17 March 2004, PAS-6 suffered an anomaly resulting in a loss of power. Then PanAmSat moved the satellite to a storage orbit while the PanAmSat and SS/L evaluated the problem. On 1 April 2004, this satellite experienced another anomaly and more significant loss of power. PAS-6 was put in graveyard orbit.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1997 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites using the SSL 1300 bus Satellite television Spacecraft launched in 1997