Chinese Communications Satellite Successfully Enters Orbit
A Proto-M rocket carrying a Chinese communications satellite successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan late Friday evening, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has announced.
According to AFP reports, the AsiaSat-7 satellite, which is expected to help expand TV coverage in areas of Southeast Asia, entered its designated orbit at 0423 GMT, or approximately 08:23 Moscow time.
The Xinhua news agency noted that AsiaSat-7 would replace an earlier satellite, AsiaSat 3S, at an orbital location of 105.5 degrees East.
In a statement, Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat) said that the orbiter would support not just television broadcasts, but “a broad range of applications for the Asia-Pacific region,” including VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) networks.
“With AsiaSat 7 successfully launched … we can assure continuity of service to customers, while at the same time adding to our on-orbit capacity to service new business,” added William Wade, President and Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat, according to AFP.
In a separate statement Saturday, Wade added that the company was “extremely pleased that AsiaSat 7 has successfully achieved this significant launch milestone.”
He added that, with the new orbiter “successfully launched well ahead of the planned date for AsiaSat 3S’s replacement, we can assure continuity of service to customers, while at the same time adding to our on-orbit capacity to service new business.”
The launch came one day after Roscosmos officials announced that they were able to successfully make contact (http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112429003/russia-makes-contact-with-phobos-grunt-probe/index.html) with the Phobos-Grunt probe. It was the first time they had received a signal from the Mars-bound probe since the vehicle was stranded in Earth’s orbit, shortly after its November 9 launch.
On Thursday, the AFP, citing Interfax news agency reports, said that Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov claimed that the agency had received “a signal” and “some telemetry data” from the probe on Thursday afternoon, and that “specialists” at the agency’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan were “working on this information.”
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Image Caption: An artist’s impression of AsiaSat 7. Credit: AsiaSat
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