Satellite Update

PanAmSat License Corp. requested special temporary authority (STA) to operate PAS-9 for 180 days at 26.15 degrees East longitude (EL). Previously PanAmSat had requested STA for operation at that location for 30 days. The STA requests would allow Arabsat, which is leasing Ku-band capacity on PAS-9 from PanAmSat, to continue service until a new satellite becomes operational and can replace PAS-9. The new satellite is not scheduled to launch until December 2006, thus the need for extended STA. From FCC Report SAT-00374.

The FCC granted requests from Hughes Communications Inc. (HNS) to change the orbital location of its satellite Call Sign S2663 from 95 degrees West longitude (WL) to 94.95 degrees WL, reduce the bandwidth of the satellite, and deploy one Ka-band satellite, SPACEWAY-3 at that location, operating in the 19.7-20.2 GHz (space-to-Earth) and 29.5-30.0 GHz (Earth-to-space) bands. The FCC's International Bureau determined that HNS met the Contract Execution, Critical Design Review and Construction Completion milestones associated with license S2663. The Bureau also determined Star One S.A. met its Contract Execution Milestone associated with authorization SAT-PPL-20050708-0014 concerning addition of the Star One-C2 satellite at 70 degrees WL and licensed by Brazil to the Permitted Space Station List. This information is from FCC Report SAT-00375 and the FCC International Bureau's IBFS Web site.