Aug 21 2009
From The Space Library
ESA’s Ariane 5 rocket launched from Kourou, French Guiana, at 22:09 (UT), carrying a telecommunications satellite for Japan—JCSAT 12—and a broadcasting satellite for Australia—Optus D3. Lockheed Martin had built the 8,900-pound (4,037-kilogram) JCSAT 12, equipping it with 30 active Ku-band and 12 C-band transponders, to provide communications services to Hawaii, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific region for 15 years. Orbital Sciences had built the Optus D3, a 5,400-pound (2,449-kilogram) craft that would use 24 Ku-band transponders to relay communications and direct-to-home television services across Australia and New Zealand. Orbital Sciences had designed the Optus D3 with a 15-year life span, like Lockheed Martin’s JCSAT 12.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 670, 1 September 2009, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx670.html (accessed 8 September 2011); Agence France-Presse, “Ariane 5 Places Japan, Australia Satellites in Orbit,” 22 August 2009; Xinhua News Agency, “Ariane Rocket Launches Satellites for Japan, Australia,” 23 August 2009.
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