Two communications satellites have returned to service following in-orbit problems. Loral Space and Communications says that its Telstar 6 satellite is back in service after a component failed in its central processing unit (CPU) on 22 April.
Meanwhile, the Boeing Satellite Systems (former Hughes Space and Communications)-built, Galaxy IIIR communications satellite suffered a failure of its primary space processing unit on 21 April, causing temporary C-band and Ku-band transponder outage.
The Space Systems/Loral-built 1300 spacecraft bus, Telstar 6, is located at 93íW in geostationary orbit and is equipped with 24 C-band and 28 Ku-band transponders. A back-up CPU was used temporarily during the failure.
The PanAmSat Galaxy IIIR spacecraft is one of a batch of BSS 601 spacecraft buses built before August 1997 which contain tin-plate relay switches that have been prone to electrical shorts. Six satellites have been affected, three of which have been forced out of service, while 18 other satellites built before 1997 and in orbit have not experienced problems (Flight International, 5-11 December, 2000).
Source: Flight International
