Telstar 6 undergoes final pre-launch preparations. Photo: ILS

Loral Space & Communications announced Monday that its Telstar 6 satellite has returned to service after experiencing a component failure on its primary central processing unit (CPU) at 3:30 am EDT Sunday. As designed, the satellite switched to its backup CPU and has returned to normal operation. As of 6:00 am EDT Monday, Loral Skynet began restoring customers on the satellite.

At the time of the outage, customers were relocated to Loral Skynet or other Loral Global Alliance satellites using a comprehensive contingency plan. During the temporary outage, control of the satellite was never lost and earth lock was fully maintained.

Telstar 6 carries a total of 52 transponders - 24 at C-band and 28 at Ku-band - and covers the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and parts of Canada and Latin America from its 93 degrees West longitude orbital position. Telstar 6's design is based on SS/L's three-axis, body-stabilized 1300 bus design.

Loral Space & Communications is a high technology company that concentrates primarily on satellite manufacturing and satellite-based services, including broadcast transponder leasing and value added services, domestic and international corporate data networks, broadband data transmission and content services and Internet services.