MEASAT-3
Encyclopedia
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
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In March 2003, MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia ordered a Boeing 601HP satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
, giving it the designation MEASAT-3 at that time. MEASAT-3 joined the existing Boeing-built MEASAT-1 and MEASAT-2 spacecraft in the Malaysia-East Asia Satellite (MEASAT) system.
International Launch Services
International Launch Services
International Launch Services is a U.S.-Russian joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Proton rocket launch services from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.- Ownership :...
(ILS) was contracted as the launch provider. Boeing was specified to also provide an upgrade to the MEASAT ground facilities in Malaysia, as well as training and launch support services.
The MEASAT-3 was launched on board an ILS service vehicle Proton M/Breeze M with a 'five-burn to orbit' sequence. It entered commercial service on January 25, 2007 at a geostationary orbit of 91.5 degrees East (co-located with MEASAT-1). The C band
C band
The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
and now covers geographically remote areas such as Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
, Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
, and North India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and expands the MEASAT fleet's coverage to more than 100 countries embracing Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
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MEASAT-3 transponders' specifications
| EIRP (dBW) | 41 (Global beam), 45 (Asia beam) |
| G/T (dB/K) | +0.5 (Global beam), +2.8 (Asia beam) |
| TWTA power | 65 Watts |
| Transponder bandwidth | 24x36 MHz |
| Channel polarization | Linear |
| Frequency band | Uplink: 5,925-6,725 MHz Downlink: 3,400-4,200 MHz |
| EIRP (dBW) | 57 (Maximum) |
| G/T (dB/K) | +14 (Maximum) |
| TWTA power | 120 Watts |
| Transponder bandwidth | 24x36 MHz |
| Channel polarization | Linear |
| Frequency band | Uplink: 13.75-14.5 GHz Downlink: 10.95-12.75 GHz |