AsiaSat 6 prepared for launch

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: September 5, 2014


A Falcon 9 rocket is being readied for launch with AsiaSat 6, a satellite to serve video and data networks across China and Southeast Asia.

Owned by AsiaSat, a commercial telecom operator based in Hong Kong, AsiaSat 6 is designed for a 15-year operational lifetime in geostationary orbit at 120 degrees east longitude.

With a full load of propellant, the spacecraft weighs nearly 4,500 kilograms, or about 9,900 pounds.

It hosts 28 C-band transponders for AsiaSat to beam video broadcasts across China. Up to half of AsiaSat 6's capacity will be used by Thaicom in a business arrangement between the Thai operator and AsiaSat.

The satellite is based on Space Systems/Loral's 1300 series spacecraft bus.

The images below show AsiaSat 6's shipment aboard a Russian Antonov cargo plane from Loral's factory in Palo Alto, Calif., to Cape Canaveral, followed by final preparations on the satellite inside SpaceX's processing facility before its encapsulation inside the Falcon 9's payload fairing.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the mission.

Photo credit: AsiaSat

Photo credit: AsiaSat

Photo credit: AsiaSat

Photo credit: AsiaSat

Photo credit: AsiaSat

Photo credit: AsiaSat

Expedition 29 Patch
Space models