PAS-9 is a Hughes 601HP model spacecraft, and is the fourth Hughes-built satellite to launch for PanAmSat in seven months. PAS-9 will use 24 C- and 24 Ku-band transponders to provide video, data and Internet services for the Americas, the Caribbean and western Europe, plus direct-to-home services for Mexico in Ku-band. The satellite will replace PAS-5 at 58 degrees West longitude.

"The launch of PAS-9 is significant, for it initiates PanAmSat's international expansion plan," said Tig H. Krekel, president and chief executive officer of HSC.

"Since December, HSC has delivered three satellites to PanAmSat, and they have all been for its Galaxy fleet of satellites. With the launch of PAS-9, the first of three Hughes-built international satellites will enter service, followed by PAS-1R, a Hughes 702, later this year, and a third, PAS-10, a Hughes 601HP, in early 2001. Our commitment to PanAmSat, one of our largest customers, remains firm."

At beginning of life on orbit, the 2,389-kilogram (5,268-pound) satellite, fully deployed, will measure 26 meters (86 feet) in length and 7 meters (23 feet) in width. PAS-9 will have 9.9 kilowatts of spacecraft power on-orbit. The satellite will use dual-junction gallium arsenide solar cells produced by HSC affiliate Spectrolab Inc. to provide power to the spacecraft.

Once the satellite is in orbital position, stationkeeping will be performed by XIPS(TM), a xenon ion propulsion system championed by HSC in conjunction with Hughes Electron Dynamics Inc. XIPS is an attractive alternative to chemical bipropellant systems, for it allows for a reduction of fuel of up to 90 percent. This highly efficient system has been deployed on 11 Hughes satellites to date.

HSC is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites, having built nearly 40 percent of those in operation. It also is a major supplier of spacecraft and equipment to the U.S. government, and a builder of weather satellites for the United States and Japan.

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Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.