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Spacecraft properties | |
---|---|
Bus | HS-376 |
Manufacturer | Hughes Aircraft Corporation |
BOL mass | 646.5 kilograms (1,425 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 17 June 1985 |
Rocket | Space Shuttle Discovery/STS-51-G |
Transponders | |
Band | C band: 18 (+2 spares) Ku band: 4 (+2 spares) |
EIRP | C band: 36 dBW Ku band: 44 dBW |
Spacecraft properties | |
---|---|
Bus | HS-376 |
Manufacturer | Hughes Aircraft Corporation |
BOL mass | 646.5 kilograms (1,425 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 27 November 1985 |
Rocket | Space Shuttle Atlantis/STS-61-B |
Transponders | |
Band | C band: 18 (+2 spares) Ku band: 4 (+2 spares) |
EIRP | C band: 36 dBW Ku band: 44 dBW |
Operator | MEXSAT |
---|---|
COSPAR ID | 2015-056A |
Mission duration | 15 years |
Spacecraft properties | |
Bus | 702HP GeoMobile |
Manufacturer | Boeing |
Launch mass | 5,325 kilograms (11,740 lb) |
BOL mass | 3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb) |
Power | 14kW |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 2 October 2015 |
Rocket | Atlas V 421 (AV-059) |
Orbital parameters | |
Longitude | 113° W |
Transponders | |
Band | L band and Ku band |
The Morelos satellites are a series of Mexican communications satellites. The first two operated between 1985 and 1998 and provided telephony, data, and television services over the territory of the Mexican Republic and adjacent areas. The third is now part of the MEXSAT constellation (sister ship of the MEXSAT-1 lost during launch) but carries the Morelos name.
The original Morelos satellites were replaced by the Solidaridad Satellite System (Solidaridad I, launched 17 November 1993, and Solidaridad 2, launched 17 October 1994) and, following privatisation, by the Satmex Satellite System.
Morelos I was Mexico's first communications satellite. It was built and put into orbit under a contract from the Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT), the federal ministry responsible for the nation's communications systems. Morelos I, a Hughes Aircraft Corporation HS-376, was launched by the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery (mission STS-51-G) on 17 June 1985 and entered geostationary orbit at 113° W on 17 December 1985.
Morelos II was launched in November 1985 and remained in service until July 1998. Built by the Hughes Aircraft Corporation for the SCT, it was launched by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on 27 November 1985; the mission, STS-61-B, included Mexican-born astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela as a payload specialist in its crew. Morelos II held a geostationary orbit at 116.8° W.
Morelos III (originally MEXSAT 2) was launched on 2 October 2015 at 10:28 UTC on Atlas V 421 AV-059 and the 100th launch by the United Launch Alliance. The spacecraft is designed to provide L-band services to mobile 3G+ users and armed forces via a deployable 22m Herschelian antenna dish with RF transceivers. It also has a 2m Ku-band dish of fixed geometry with a much simpler deployment sequence. The spacecraft is a Boeing 702HP GeoMobile spacecraft bus equipped with an RD-4 main engine for completing its ascent to geostationary orbit at 113° W from an ascent orbit of 4750 by 35800km inclined at 27° following the now-typical long duration two-burn profile of the Atlas V. [1] [2] [3] It was originally intended to serve with the similar MEXSAT-1 Centenario spacecraft (which would have been at 116° W) lost during the 3rd stage failure of the 406th Proton, a launch vehicle of Proton-M/Briz-M configuration. [4]
Mass media in Mexico are regulated by the Secretariat of Communication and Transportation, a federal executive cabinet ministry and by the Federal Telecommunications Institute.
STS-51-G was the 18th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The seven-day mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 17, 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on June 24, 1985. Sultan bin Salman Al Saud from Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; Al Saud became the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first member of a royal family to fly into space. It was also the first Space Shuttle mission which flew without at least one astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era among its crew.
STS-61-B was NASA's 23rd Space Shuttle mission, and its second using Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 26, 1985. During STS-61-B, the shuttle crew deployed three communications satellites, and tested techniques of constructing structures in orbit. Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 16:33:49 EST on December 3, 1985, after 6 days, 21 hours, 4 minutes, and 49 seconds in orbit.
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