Hughes Built PAS-9 Satellite Successfully Launched
PAS-9, a high-power Hughes 601HP satellite built for PanAmSat Corporation by Hughes Space and Communications Company, the world’s largest satellite manufacturer, was successfully launched today on a Sea Launch rocket from the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Liftoff occurred at 3:42 p.m. PDT, and PAS-9’s first signals, confirming normal operations, were received at 5:19 p.m. PDT at the Sydney, Australia, satellite tracking station.
The PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite is the fourth Hughes spacecraft PanAmSat has launched in seven months. It is also the first among these recent launches that will provide international services. PAS-9, once on-station at 58 degrees West longitude, will provide at least 15 years of video, data and Internet services in C-band and in Ku-band for the Americas, the Caribbean, and western Europe, plus direct-to-home services for Mexico in Ku-band. The satellite features 48 transponders, 24 in C-band and 24 in Ku-band.
The high-power 9,900-watt satellite features Hughes’ leading technologies, including advanced dual-junction solar cells with 21 percent conversion efficiencies and XIPS, a xenon ion propulsion system that allows for a reduction in propellant mass of about 90 percent compared to chemical bipropellant systems.
At time of launch, PAS-9 weighed 3,659 kilograms (8,067 pounds). Once in position 36,000 kilometers (22,300 miles) above the equator at 58 degrees West longitude, the satellite will weigh 2,389 kilograms (5,268 pounds).
PAS-9 is PanAmSat’s 21st satellite. PAS-1R, a Hughes 702, is scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2000. PAS-10, a Hughes 601HP, and Galaxy IIIC, another Hughes 702, are scheduled for launch in 2001.
HSC is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites, having built nearly 40 percent of those in operation. It also is a major supplier of spacecraft and equipment to the U.S. government, and a builder of weather satellites for the United States and Japan.
PanAmSat Corporation (NASDAQ: SPOT), based in Greenwich, Conn., is a leading provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite. The company builds, owns and operates networks that deliver entertainment and information to cable television systems, TV broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home TV operators, Internet service providers, telecommunications companies and corporations. With 21 spacecraft in orbit today (SBS 4 has been retired), PanAmSat has the world’s largest commercial geostationary satellite network. The company will expand its global fleet to 24 spacecraft by mid-2001. For more information on PanAmSat, visit the PanAmSat web site at http://www.panamsat.com.
HSC is a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation and PanAmSat is 81 percent owned by Hughes Electronics. Hughes Electronics is the world’s leading provider of digital television entertainment, satellite services, and satellite-based private business networks. The earnings of Hughes Electronics, a unit of General Motors Corporation, are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock (NYSE:GMH). More information about Hughes Electronics can be found at its web site at www.hughes.com.
