Tim Furniss/LONDON
Hughes is attempting to rescue the Asiasat 3 communications satellite, stranded in a useless orbit after a launch failure last December, by flying it around the moon to reposition it in an operational geostationary orbit (GEO).
The AsiaSat 3 was stranded in a 51¼ inclination, 201 x 26,008km elliptical orbit on 25 December when the fourth stage of its Russian Proton booster rocket shut down prematurely.
Hughes controllers fired the satellite's motor several times to raise it out of elliptical orbit and, by 26 April, it had reached an apogee of just over 207,500km. By 4 May, it will have reached 321,000km and the final firing, on 7 May, will send it on a nine-day trip around the moon, at an altitude of 8,000km, using its gravity to divert its path back into an orbit around the Earth on 16 May.
The satellite's motor will fire again, placing it at best into a 36,000km circular geostationary orbit in late May, although the "purely experimental" mission will attempt the "best achievable orbit", says Hughes. The US company describes the satellite's flight as the "first commercial fly-by of the moon".
After the launch failure, the original owner of the spacecraft, Asia Satellite Telecommunications of Hong Kong, filed an insurance claim and the insurers declared the craft a total loss. Hughes reached an agreement with the insurers to attempt the salvage mission, obtaining the title to the spacecraft, which it designated HSG-1.
Although most of the 1,680kg of propellant aboard may be depleted, Hughes is considering offering the satellite's services to the US Government to augment its communications capacity.
The satellite is a fully functional HS 601HP model with 44 high-power active transponders - 28 in C-band and 16 in Ku-band. If the HGS-1 can be put into service, Hughes will share profits with the insurance underwriters.
Source: Flight International
