Superbird-C


Superbird-C, also known as Superbird-3 or Superbird-A3, was a geostationary communications satellite ordered and operated by Space Communications Corporation that was designed and manufactured by Hughes on the HS-601 platform. It has a pure Ku band payload and was used fill the position at 144°East longitude. It provided television signals and business communications services throughout Japan, southern and eastern Asia, and Hawaii.

Satellite description

The spacecraft was designed and manufactured by then Hughes on the HSS-601 satellite bus. It had a launch mass of and a 13-year design life. When stowed for launch, it measured. It had two wings with four solar panels each, that generated 4.5 kW at the end of its design life. When fully deployed, the solar panels spanned, with its antennas in fully extended configuration it was wide. It had a 29-cell NiH2 battery with a power charge of 200Ah.
Its propulsion system was composed of an R-4D-11-300 LAE with a thrust of. It also used had 12 bipropellant thrusters for station keeping and attitude control. It included enough propellant for orbit circularization and 13 years of operation.
Its payload is composed of two dual-gridded reflectors and twenty four Ku band transponders powered by TWTA with and output power of 90 Watts. It can configure two 54 MHz transponders into one 114 MHz with an effective 180 Watts.
The Ku band footprint covered Japan, southern and eastern Asia, and Hawaii.

History

was founded in 1985, the same year as the original companies that later formed JSAT. SCC switched satellite suppliers and on 1995 ordered a satellite from Boeing, Superbird-C.
On July 28, 1997 at 01:15:00 UTC, Superbird-C was orbited by an Atlas IIAS launched from Cape Canaveral LC-36B.
Superbird-C It was replaced by Superbird-C2 during 2008, at which point it was decommissioned.