Westar was a fleet of

geosynchronous 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 orbital ...

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 ...

s operating in the C band which were launched by

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the co ...

from 1974 to 1984. There were seven Westar satellites in all, with five of them launched and operating under the Westar name.

Background

Westar 1 Westar 1 was America's first domestic and commercially launched geostationary communications satellite, launched by Western Union (WU) and NASA on April 13, 1974. It was built by Hughes for Western Union, using the HS-333 platform of spin-st ...

(launched on April 13, 1974) has the distinction of being the USA's first commercially launched geosynchronous communications satellite, following North America's first geosynchronous communications satellite,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Anik A1 Anik may refer to: * Anik (satellite), satellites launched by Canadian telecommunications company Telesat * Anik, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Anik Mountain * Anik Bissonnette, a Canadian ballet dancer * Anik Jean (born ...

in 1972. Westar 1 was put into orbit at 99° W in the

Clarke belt 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 geosynchronous orbit in altitude ...

(99° W now being the home of Galaxy 16). Westar 2 was launched shortly afterward on October 10, 1974. Westar 3, the first satellite to use TDMA switched data, was launched on August 10, 1979. Westars 1, 2 and 3 were built by Hughes using the

HS 333 In 1970, Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) Space and Communications Group offered the first standardized satellite: the HS 333 design. A spinning satellite, it was based on previous one-design satellites like Intelsat I. HAC built eight of these 300 ...

platform of spin-scan stabilized satellites. They only had 12

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 on board, as opposed to later

C-band C band may refer to: * C band (IEEE), a radio frequency band from 4 to 8 GHz * C band (infrared), an infrared band from 1530 to 1565 nm (roughly 200 THz) * C band (NATO) The NATO C-band is the obsolete designation given to the radio frequen ...

communications satellites having 24, and even contemporary satellites of the same era, such as RCA's

Satcom 1 Satcom, a portmanteau of satellite communications, was a brand of artificial geo-stationary communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications ( RCA Americom) that facilitated wide-area telecommunicatio ...

The later Westar 4 (launched on February 26, 1982) and Westar 5 (launched on June 9, 1982) satellites, were based on the Hughes HS 376 platform, and had 24

s available, as opposed to the 12 on Westars 1, 2, and 3. Westar 6, also an HS-376 based satellite, was launched from

STS-41-B STS-41-B was NASA's tenth Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the . It launched on February 3, 1984 and landed on February 11, 1984, after deploying two communications satellites. It was also notable for including the first untethere ...

on February 3, 1984, to be put into service afterward, but the perigee kick motor (also known as the

Payload Assist Module The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by McDonnell Douglas (Boeing), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers and carried ...

, or PAM) on the satellite failed during its approach to geosynchronous orbit, placing it at an improper and inoperable

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

. It was retrieved on November 16, 1984, by the

STS-51-A STS-51-A (formerly STS-19) was the 14th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the second flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 8, 1984, and landed just under eight days later on ...

mission of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

, where it was brought back to earth. It was then resold to

AsiaSat Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) is a Hong Kong–based commercial operator of communications satellites founded in 1988. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Limited (AsiaSat ...

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 ...

, who refurbished it and relaunched it on April 7, 1990 as

AsiaSat 1 AsiaSat 1 was a Hong Kong communications satellite, which was owned, and was operated, by the Hong Kong–based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It was originally launched in February 1984 as Westar 6, but following a booster motor ...

aboard a

Long March 3 The Long March 3 (), also known as the Changzheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. They were all launched from Launch Area 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket, and was mostly used ...

rocket. The Space Shuttle mission to retrieve Westar 6, as well as the

Palapa B2 Palapa is a series of communications satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). The first satellite was launched in July 1976, at which time ...

satellite which shared the launch

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

with Westar 6, was partially funded by the

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

companies led by

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

who insured the launch of those two satellites. An on-ground spare satellite to Westar 6, Westar 6S, was in development by Western Union and Hughes when Western Union decided to divest themselves of their

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

-based assets starting in the early 1980s after suffering heavy financial losses. This resulted in Western Union selling the Westar satellite fleet and operations to Hughes in 1988. Hughes then finished development of Westar 6S, and renamed it Galaxy 6. Modifications were made to it, and Galaxy 6 was launched on October 12, 1990. Hughes later launched the Galaxy 4 satellite in 1992 and Galaxy 5 in 1993 to replace Westar 4 and 5 respectively, after the latter satellites reached the end of their useful life.

Uplink sites for Westar

During the life of the Westar fleet, Western Union operated these dedicated uplink sites (now defunct, unless noted) for Westar: * The Yacolt

earth station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

Yacolt, Washington Yacolt is a town in Clark County, Washington, United States. The 2023 population is estimated to be 1,626. It is located about northeast of Vancouver which is part of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. History Yacolt is derived from ...

(45.8633,-122.3956). (now a satellite uplink site for

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

) * The Sky Valley earth station, located near

Cordelia, California Cordelia is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Solano County, California, Solano County, California, United States. Cordelia is located at the junction of Interstate 80 and California State Route 12 and at the northern end of I ...

(north of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

) * The Steele Valley earth station, near

Perris, California Perris is an old railway city in Riverside County, California, United States, located east-southeast of Los Angeles and north of San Diego. It is known for Lake Perris, skydiving, the Southern California Railway Museum, and its sunny dry cli ...

(southeast of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) * The Kipapa earth station, near Waipio Acres, Hawaii * The Cedar Hill earth station, at

Cedar Hill, Texas Cedar Hill is a city in Dallas and Ellis counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located approximately southwest of downtown Dallas and is situated along the eastern shore of Joe Pool Lake and Cedar Hill State Park. Per the 2020 United St ...

(near

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

) (now a satellite teleport station once again, as the headquarters of All Mobile Video's Westar Satellite Services divisio

* The Estill Fork earth station, at Estill Fork,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

* The Lake Geneva earth station, at

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it was home to 8,277 people as of the 2020 census, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located southwest of Milwaukee and no ...

(northwest of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) * and the Glenwood earth station at

Glenwood, New Jersey Glenwood is an unincorporated area located within Vernon Township, in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Locali ...

. Glenwood was the head earth station for the Westar fleet, providing TT&C (telemetry, tracking & control) & uplink services. (Now the uplink site for

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Description of the Westar satellites at Boeing Satellite System's (formerly Hughes) web site
* Gunter's Space Page - information o

* Gunter's Space Page information o

Map of terrestrial microwave relay sites of Western Union, including satellite uplink sites for Westar at the time
Communications satellites 1974 in science 1993 disestablishments in the United States Western Union 1974 establishments in the United States Spacecraft launched in 1974 1988 mergers and acquisitions Spacecraft decommissioned in 1993