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TS News - What's News In The Clarke Belt

TELE-satellit News, 24 March 1997

What's News In The Clarke Belt
  PARIS, France, 97/03/24 (TS) -- This is a roundup of news from the Clarke
Belt summarizing satellite moves recently, by Jean-Phillipe Donnio. For
more information check The Satellite's Encyclopedia at
http://www.tele-satellit.com/tse/online/ .

New Satellites

  GE 2 was launched on 30 Jan 1997. This is a C- and Ku-band spacecraft
operated by GE Americom. It will replace Satcom K1 at 85 deg West. It has
24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders.

  Nahuel 1A was launched with GE 2 by Ariane. This satellite is aimed to
Argentina and Brazil. With 18 transponders in Ku-band it will provide up to
51 dBW signals. It has 3 beams: Argentina, Brazil and a large beam covering
a zone from the US down to argentina at 41 dBW. When working out the
technical documentation we were surprized to learn that the bird does not
switch polarization on board, i.e. an uplinked vertical signal is
downlinked in linear vertical polarization too!

  Jcsat 4 was launched on 17 Feb 1997. It is currently testing at 141 deg
E. This satellite is supposed to be identical to Jcsat 3 [we did not
receive the official documentation yet]. With 12 C-band transponders it
covers Asia & Australia. The powerful Ku-band payload covers Japan and
other Asian countries with several regional beams. 

  DSP 3-6 is a US military spacecraft. It will be located somewhere on the
belt to provide early warning alerts.

  Intelsat 801 was launched on 1 Mar 1997. This is the first of a new
series which should finally be located at 64 deg East. It has C- and
Ku-band transponders and is based on a GE 7000 bus. It is currently testing
at 47 deg E

  Tempo 2 is a DBS bird which has 32 Ku-band transponders. They operate at
107 W but transponders can be binded to provide 16 transponders at 214 W.
The coverage is limited to conus. This satellite should be located at 119
deg West.

Recently Drifting/Moving

-  Gorizont 17 was deorbited in late Jan 1997. It has been replaced by
Gorizont 19 at 34 deg East.
-  Telstar 302 was moved to 97 deg West (mid-Feb) after the Telstar 401
failure. 
-  TDRS 6 would be drifting West since early March. [confirmation wanted]
-  Intelsat 512 was finally relocated at 55.5 deg W in February
-  Marecs B2 was moved from 15 deg W to 26 deg W in late Feb
-  Meteosat 6 has taken over the tasks of Meteosat 5 at 0 deg in early Feb.
-  Gorizont 29 has left 129 deg E in late Jan to relocate at 161 deg East.
-  Sakura 3B would have moved to 154 deg East?

(c)TELE-satellit 1997. All rights reserved.
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