AsiaSat 5 launch in a week

Rose Major

Asiasat 5 will launch next week, August 12, at 3am Hong Kong time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. And the company said construction has commenced on another bird, Asiasat 5C, a backup satellite for Asiasat 5.

Designed to replace Asiasat 2 at 100.5 degrees East, Asiasat 5 will provide services including television broadcast across Asia-Pacific. Carrying 26 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders, the satellite will offer not just a powerful Ku-band East Asia beam but also two new Ku-band beams – the South Asia beam and a steerable beam to satisfy market demands, and to offer full backup to Asiasat 3S and Asiasat 4.

The satellite will launch from an ILS Proton launch vehicle.

A live broadcast of the launch will be available on Asiasat 2’s C-band transponder 10A at 4006.50 MHz. Liver coverage will start at 3.25am Hong Kong time.

Construction has also started on Asiasat 5C at Space Systems/Loral’s manufacturing facility in the US. Once Asiasat 5 is successfully launched, Asiasat 5C will be deployed to address the company’s other future needs.