Paksat-MM1 (formerly known as AsiaSat 4) was a leased

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

operated by SUPARCO, Pakistan's space agency. It was provided by Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat), a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

–based satellite operator. Initially stationed at 122° East longitude, Paksat-MM1 was later relocated to 38.2° East to better serve Pakistan and the surrounding region. During most of its operational life at 122° East, it provided fixed satellite services, including broadcasting, audio, and data transmission, to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Satellite description

AsiaSat 4 was built by

Hughes Space and Communications The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules aircr ...

, for US$220 million, which by the time of its launch had become part of

Boeing Satellite Systems The Boeing Satellite Development Center is a major business unit of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It brought together Boeing satellite operations with that of GM Hughes Electronics' Space and Communications division in El Segundo, Califo ...

. It is based on the HS-601HP

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are less customized than specially-produced satelli ...

. At launch, it had a mass of , and a design life of fifteen years. It carries twenty eight C-band and twenty

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band ...

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

. It was planned for late 1999, but was delayed because of the Asian crisis. Construction started in September 2000.

Launch

AsiaSat 4 was launched by an Atlas 3B SEC

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

with the

Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

upper stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own Rocket engine, engines and Rocket propellant, propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of anoth ...

from

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

( SLC-36B) at 00:47:01

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on 12 April 2003. AsiaSat 4 was insured for launch and first year in orbit. The AsiaSat 4 was replaced by AsiaSat 9 in 2017.

Life as Paksat-MM1

In February 2018 it was leased by PakSat International, a subsidiary of SUPARCO (Pakistan's space agency), from the Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat) . Previously positioned at 122° East longitude, it was relocated to 38.2° East to serve Pakistan's needs. Paksat renamed it Paksat-MM1 (Paksat-Multi Mission 1) and began operations in March 2018. After the lease expired, the satellite was returned to China and relocated to 147.5° East. As of 29 August 2024 (according to flysat.com), it is no longer operational and has been replaced by PakSat-MM1R, a new satellite launched on 30 May 2024.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2003 Spacecraft launched in 2003 AsiaSat satellites Communications satellites of Pakistan SUPARCO satellites

Satellite description

Launch

Life as Paksat-MM1

See also

References