MEASAT-3a is a

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Ear ...

which

MEASAT Satellite Systems MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd, formerly Binariang Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd is a Malaysian communications satellite operator, which owns and operates the MEASAT (Malaysia East Asia Satellite) and AFRICASAT spacecraft. The company provides sat ...

intends to operate in

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbit ...

at 91.5 degrees East longitude. It was built by

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

, based on the

STAR-2 The STAR-2 Bus is a fully redundant, flight-proven, spacecraft bus designed for geosynchronous missions. It is a satellite platform, designed and developed by Thomas van der Heyden for the Indonesian Cakrawarta satellite program in the early 19 ...

spacecraft platform.

History

Orbital completed the satellite and all of its contractual requirements, and shipped the satellite to its

Baikonur Baikonur ( kk, Байқоңыр, ; russian: Байконур, translit=Baykonur), formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

launch site in July 2008. The satellite was mated to the Block DM upper stage of the Zenit-3SLB rocket when it was struck by the operator cab of the overhead crane. The hazardous propellants were successfully offloaded and the spacecraft was decontaminated and returned to the United States for repair work and additional testing, with a projected launch date of Spring/Summer 2009.

Launch

MEASAT-3a was successfully launched aboard a

Land Launch Land Launch refers to a service product of Sea Launch SA. There is no entity or company called Land Launch. Sea Launch created the Land Launch offering to address lighter satellites directly into geosynchronous orbit or into geosynchronous transf ...

Zenit-3SLB The Zenit 3SLB or Zenit-3M is a Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-2SB. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Office. Produced at Yuzhmash, the rocket is a modified ver ...

carrier rocket flying from Site 45/1 at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome ''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur'' , image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg , caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's " Gagarin's Start" Soyu ...

. The launch occurred at 21:50 GMT on 21 June 2009, with the spacecraft separating from the Block DM-SLB upper stage of the rocket around six hours later.

References

External links

IMS
Official provider's site Spacecraft launched in 2009 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched by Zenit and Energia rockets Satellites using the GEOStar bus {{communications-satellite-stub