AsiaSat 9 fully operational at 122°E!
Launch Date/Time: 29 September 2017 Baikonur time 00:52:16 | Hong Kong time 02:52:16 | GMT 18:52:16 (28 September 2017)
Launch Location: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Launch Vehicle: Proton M/Breeze M
Progress:
- Separation for Stages 1, 2 & 3 and PLF Jettison completed successfully
- 1st main engine burn completed successfully
- 2nd main engine burn completed successfully
- 3rd main engine burn completed successfully
- 4th main engine burn completed successfully
- 5th main engine burn completed successfully
- AsiaSat acquired the first signals from the satellite in Hong Kong 7 hours, 54 minutes after the launch
- Approximately 9 hours, 13 minutes after lift-off, the AsiaSat 9 spacecraft successfully separated from the upper stage of the launch vehicle
- North and south solar array deployed successfully
- First AMF completed
- Second AMF completed
- Third AMF completed
- Fourth AMF completed
- Antenna reflectors deployed successfully
- Stationary plasma thrusters deployed successfully
- Trim maneuver firings completed
- AsiaSat 9 arrived at 122ºE
The most powerful satellite from AsiaSat, to replace AsiaSat 4 at 122°E
- Satellite Manufacturer: Space Systems Loral (SSL)
- S/C Power (EOL) = 20765 watts
- Separation Mass = 6141 kg
Payload
- 28 C-band transponders - TWTA @ 110 watts
- 32 Ku-band transponders - TWTA @ 200 watts
- Ka-band regional payload - TWTA @ 123 watts
Enhancements over AsiaSat 4
Additional capacity, enhanced power and coverage for video applications such as DTH, video contribution / distribution, also data applications such as VSAT private networks (corporate, mobile backhaul etc.) and broadband services across the Asia-Pacific region.
C-band: Greater Power, More Bandwidth, Higher Efficiency and Wider Coverage with Asia’s highest powered 110 watts C-band TWTA.
Ku-band: 3 new dedicated high power Ku-band beams covering Indonesia (downlink EIRP up to 55dBW), Myanmar (up to 55dBW), Mongolia (up to 52dBW), in addition to enhanced East Asia and Australasia beams; Cross-strap switching capability to allow uplink and downlink across different Ku-band beams.
Unique Benefits & New Cutting Edge Features
Introducing 3 powerful Ku-band Beam (Myanmar, Indonesia and Mongolia) and new cross-strap beam switching capability for flexible coverage - e.g. uplink from East Asia beam and downlink via Myanmar beam, or vice versa
Doubling spectral density (bit/Hz) - to support higher mod/cod on areas with 3dB enhancement in the downlink EIRP power
Improved uplink G/T contour (dB/K) - allowing an optimised usage of customer HPA for remotes sites
Special filter design on spacecraft - to achieve higher bandwidth for C-band transponders. With combined higher power and wider bandwidth, AsiaSat 9 delivers significantly higher throughput
Employment of conduction-cooled LTWTA - improves panel layout to provide more consistent EIRP across channels, meaning a higher degree of performance stability for multi-transponder customers
Star Tracker - Robust and reliable way to ensure a higher pointing accuracy, about 20% better than traditional earth sensor only spacecraft
Stationary Plasma Thrusters (SPTs) - Equipped with Hall Effect Thrusters that use electrical energy to change the velocity of the spacecraft which more efficiency than chemical thrusters. As a result, higher stability and reliability can be achieved for stationkeeping and better performance at edge of coverage
Development Stories
26 June 2015 - AsiaSat 9 Passes Critical Main Body Structural Testing in June 2015
28 July 2015 - AsiaSat 9 Subsystems Integration Making Good Progress
01 September 2015 - AsiaSat 9 Bi-propellant Tanks Installed
12 March 2016 - AsiaSat 9 Launch Vehicle Preliminary Design Review (PDR) successfully completed in Moscow
14 April 2016 - AsiaSat 9's 3rd Launch Vehicle Technical Interface Meeting
25 August 2016 - AsiaSat 9 manufacture proceeds smoothly as planned
03 November 2016 - Testing AsiaSat 9 in a Simulated Space Environment
25 January 2017 - Spacecraft Dynamics & Acoustic Testing
29 March 2017 - Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR)
23 May 2017 - Satellite Pre-Ship Review (SPSR) successfully concluded
30 Aug 2017 - SSL-built AsiaSat 9 arrives at Baikonur Launch Base
26 Sep 2017 - Photographs of AsiaSat 9 - Fueling, Mating, Encapsulation and Delivery to launch pad
29 Sep 2017 - Successful lift-off of AsiaSat 9
09 Oct 2017 - AsiaSat 9 has arrived at 122°E on 9 October 2017
27 Nov 2017 - AsiaSat 9 fully operational at 122ºE