With a little sweat, ingenuity, and lunar gravity, Hughes engineers have put a satellite once given up for lost into a successful Earth orbit. The HGS-1 was recently sent on an unplanned double-loop around the moon, with the hope that the gravitational energy of the lunar detour would zing it into useful orbit. It was the first time a commerical venture had conducted a lunar mission.
Yesterday the inspired plan paid off, as Hughes announced that the satellite had arrived in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean. The satellite was originally the property of AsiaSat, which launched it to provide telecommunications and television services to the Asia Pacific region.
The first lunar flyby in mid-May was successful enough in precisely altering the satellite's mission that Hughes sent it around again to further improve the orbit.
The final step – getting the satellite into orbit around the equator – was completed successfully Thursday, Hughes said. Controllers fired the on-board motor for 12 minutes, braking the craft into a circular orbit 22,300 miles over the equator. For now it will remain dormant as Hughes, the new owner, rounds up some customers.
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New trans-Atlantic space link: Intelsat says it has positioned a satellite over the Atlantic, from where it will swap high-end multimedia between Europe and the Americas. Delivering data in both directions via a single "transponder," Intelsat says the new link represents a cheaper alternative for businesses looking to run video, tele-medicine, distance learning, and other multimedia services between the continents.
An Intelsat signatory in Brazil is leasing transponders on the C- and Ku-band, using Intelsat 805 to carry fast-growing Internet traffic. The company says the satellite's high power lets it beam data to relatively small, 1.8-meter dishes on the ground.
