Intelsat 605, previously named Intelsat VI F-5, was a

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

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

. Launched in 1991, it was the fourth of five Intelsat VI satellites to be launched. The Intelsat VI series was constructed by

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace company, 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 ...

, based on the HS-389

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 ...

. Intelsat 605 was launched at 23:15:13 UTC on 14 August 1991, atop an

Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was a European expendable rocket, expendable launch vehicle in the Ariane (rocket family), Ariane family, developed by the (CNES), the Government of France, French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). The manufacturi ...

44L carrier rocket, flight number V45. The launch took place from ELA-2 at Kourou, and placed Intelsat 605 into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite raised itself into its final

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

using two liquid-fuelled R-4D-12 engines, with the satellite arriving in geostationary orbit on 20 August 1991. Intelsat 605 initially operated in a geostationary orbit with a

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

of , an apogee of , and 0 degrees of

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

. The satellite carried 38 IEEE C band and ten IEEE

transponder 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 ...

s, and had a design life of 13 years and a mass of . During late 1991, Intelsat 605 was operated at a longitude of 21.5 degrees west. In July 1992, it was placed at 24.5 degrees west, where it operated until November 1997. It subsequently operated at 27.5 degrees west from December 1997 to March 2003; 32.9 degrees east from April 2003 to October 2004; 77 degrees west from December 2004 to January 2005, and 174 degrees east from April 2005 to January 2009. It was placed into a

graveyard orbit A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an Orbit (physics), orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well beyond geosynchronous orbit. Some satellit ...

and decommissioned in January 2009.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1991 Spacecraft launched in 1991 Intelsat satellites Spacecraft decommissioned in 2009 Ariane commercial payloads Derelict satellites orbiting Earth