ProtoStar

ProtoStar Ltd is a private company incorporated in Bermuda, with U.S. operations based in San Francisco, California and Asian operations based in Singapore. ProtoStar intends to operate an initial fleet of three geostationary satellites. [cite web |url=http://www.protostarsat.com/fleet.html |title=ProtoStar Fleet |publisher=ProtoStar] Two satellites have been acquired, one of which has been launched. ProtoStar’s anchor customer, Dish TV India Limited, is the largest direct-to-home television operator in India.cite web |url=http://www.ssloral.com/html/pressreleases/pr20080708.html |title=Space Systems/Loral-Built ProtoStar I Satellite Successfully Performs Post-Launch Maneuvers |date=]

ProtoStar I

The ProtoStar I satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) based on the SS/L 1300 spacecraft design. It was originally known as ChinaSat-8. On 2007-01-05 SS/L announced the satellite, which had been in storage, would be modified to meet ProtoStar's requirements. [cite web |url=http://www.ssloral.com/html/pressreleases/pr20070105.html |title=Space Systems/Loral Awarded Contract To Deliver Satellite To ProtoStar Ltd. |publisher=SS/L] The satellite weighs kg to lb |4100 |precision=-2 and will operate in both the Ku band and the C band.cite web |url=http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/07_01_08_protostar_release_index.html |title=Arianespace to launch ProtoStar I |publisher=Arianespace]

On 2007-01-08 Arianespace announced that ProtoStar had contracted with Arianespace for the launch of ProtoStar I. It was launched aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket on 2008-07-07. [cite web |url=http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/presrel08_07_07.html |title=Another successful Arianespace launch: ProtoStar I and BADR-6 are in orbit |publisher=Arianespace] Post-launch maneuvering of the satellite was performed successfully 2008-07-08.

ProtoStar II

On 2008-01-14 Boeing announced that the Boeing Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, California would provide a spacecraft based on the Boeing 601HP spacecraft design for use as ProtoStar II. [cite web |url=http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q1/080114b_nr.html |title=Boeing Awarded Contract for Direct-to-Home Entertainment Satellite |publisher=Boeing] The spacecraft was originally built for PanAmSat (now Intelsat) to be used as Galaxy-8iR, but that contract was terminated 2002-11-15. [cite web |url=http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/protostar-2.htm |title=ProtoStar 2 |last=Krebs |first=Gunter] ProtoStar II will be launched by International Launch Services on a Proton rocket. [cite web |url=http://www.protostarsat.com/news/07july08.html |title=ProtoStar I Successfully Carried to Orbit on Ariane 5; Satellite to Serve the Asian DTH Market |date=2008-07-07]

Ground control segment

The ProtoStar I ground control system is in Singapore and will be operated by SingTel. For ProtoStar II the primary control system will be installed in Indonesia and operated by Indovision, with a backup system integrated into the control system for ProtoStar I. Hardware and software for these systems are being provided by Integral Systems. [cite web |title=Integral Systems Awarded Contract to Provide Protostar-II Ground Segment |url=http://www.integ.com/PR2008/ISIAwardedContProtostarII.pdf |publisher=Integral Systems |date=2008-04-22]

References

External links

* [http://www.protostarsat.com/ ProtoStar website]