RCA entered the commercial communications satellite market with SATCOM-1 (December 1975) and -2 (March 1976), which doubled the traffic by frequency re-use using cross-polarization and became the new standard for the communications satellite industry. Next came ANIK-B (Dec 1978), the first commercial dual-band satellite operating at both C and Ku-Bands, and then the second generation of SATCOMS which increased channel reliability and extended satellite life to ten years. This culminated in several generic designs, such as Series 3000, Series 4000, Series 5000, Series 7000 and A2100. The last major communications project was ASTROLINK, a global network of satellites to provide flexible coverage worldwide Internet access direct to users.
A list of the RCA ASTRO Commercial Communications satellites follows:
RCA ASTRO COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES
Spacecraft |
Date Launched |
Remarks |
SATCOM-1 |
12-Dec-75 |
Retired 01-Jul-84 |
SATCOM-2 |
26-Mar-76 |
Retired 05-Feb-85 |
BSE (YURI) |
08-Apr-78 |
|
ANIK-B |
15-Dec-787 |
First C & Ku-band hybrid - retired 15-Dec-86 |
SATCOM-3 |
06-Dec-79 |
AKM failure |
SATCOM-3R |
19-Nov-81 |
Retired 29-Nov-91 |
SATCOM-4 |
15-Jan-83 |
Retired 04-Dec-91 |
Aurora-1 (SATCOM-5) |
27-Oct-82 |
First all solid-state - retired 27-Msr-91 |
SATCOM-1R (6) |
11-Apr-83 |
First use of EHT thruster - retired 21-Dec-92 |
SATCOM-2R (7) |
08-Sep-83 |
Retired 03-Mar-95 |
BS-2A |
23-Jan-84 |
|
Spacenet-1 |
22-May-84 |
First Ariane launch - S/C sold Apr 93 to APC for service to China |
Spacenet-2 |
09-Nov-84 |
|
GSTAR-1 |
07-May-85 |
|
ASC-1 |
27-Aug-85 |
|
Spacenet-3 |
12-Sep-85 |
Shuttle launch. Retired 06-Sep-94 |
SATCOM-K2 |
26-Nov-85 |
Launch vehicle failure |
SATCOM-K1 |
12-Jan-86 |
First US medium power DBS |
BS-2B |
12-Feb-86 |
|
GSTAR-2 (F3) |
28-Mar-86 |
Carried GEOSTAR-R1 package |
Spacenet-3R |
11-Mar-88 |
|
PAS-1 |
15-Jun-88 |
First Ariane-4 flight |
GSTAR-3 |
08-Sep-88 |
Carried dGEOSTAR-R2 package |
ASTRA-1A |
10-Dec-88 |
First European medium power DBS for SES Luxembourg |
BS-2X |
22-Feb-90 |
Launch vehicle failure |
BS-3A (Yuri-3A) |
28-Aug-90 |
|
GSTAR-4 (F1) |
20-Nov-90 |
|
SATCOM-C1 (I) |
20-Nov-90 |
Co-passenger with GSTAR-4 |
ASTRA-1B |
02-Mar-91 |
for SES Luxembourg |
ANIK-E2 |
04-Apr-91 |
Temporarily out of servoice 20-Jan-94. Recovered on 21-Jun-94. Fully operational on 01-Aug-94 |
Spacenet-4 (ASC-2) |
12-Apr-91 |
|
BS-3H |
18-Apr-91/td>
| Launch vehicle failure |
Aurora-2 (SATCOM-C5) |
29-May-91 |
|
BS-3B (Yuri-3B) |
25-Aug-91 |
|
ANIK-E1 |
16-Sep-91 |
|
Intelsat-K |
09-Jun-92 |
First Atlas-2A flight |
SATCOM-C4 (F1) |
31-Aug-92 |
|
SATCOM-C3 (F2) |
10-Sep-92 |
|
ASTRA-1C |
12-May-93 |
STS launch - Discovery |
ACTS/TOS |
12-Sep-93 |
First Series 7000 launch. First Atlas IIAS launch. |
Telstar-401 |
15-Dec-93 |
First use of arcjets in space |
BS-3N |
08-Jul-94 |
|
Koreasat-K1 |
05-Aug-95 |
s/c launch sequence failure |
Telstar 402 |
09-Sep-94 |
|
INMARSAT-F1 |
---Sep-94 |
|
INMARSAT-F2 |
---Jan-95 |
|
INMARSAT-F3 |
---May-95 |
|
INMARSAT-F4 |
---Sep-95 |
|
Telstar 402R (403) |
23-Sep-95 |
First Long March launch |
AsiaSat-2 |
28-Nov-95 |
Series 7000 |
Milstar F2 |
06-Nov-95 |
Military communications satellite |
ECHOSTAR-1 |
28-Dec-95 |
Direct Broadcast satellite |
Koreasat-2 |
14-Jan-96 |
|
INMARSAT-3 (F1) |
03-Apr-96 |
Maritime mobile communications |
ECHOSTAR-4 |
08-May-96 |
Direct Broadcast satellite |
INMARSAT-3 (F2) |
06-Sep-96 |
Maritime mobile communications |
GE-1 |
09-Sep-96 |
Launched from shuttle |
INMARSAT-3 (F3) |
18-Dec-96 |
Maritime mobile communications |
ECHOSTAR-2 |
11-Sep-96 |
Direct Broadcast satellite |
GE-2 |
30-Jan-97 |
Launched from Shuttle |
INTELSAT 801 |
27-Feb-97 |
|
INMARSAT-3 (f4) |
03-Jun-97 |
|
INTELSAT-802 |
25-Jun-97 |
|
GE-3 |
04-Sep-97 |
|
INTELSAT-803 |
23-Sep-97 |
|
ECHOSTAR-3 |
05-Oct-97 |
|
INTELSAT-804 |
21-Dec-97 |
|
INTELSAT-806 |
27-Feb-98 |
|
INTELSAT-805 |
18-Jun-98 |
Proton launch vehicle |
GE-5 |
28-Oct-98 |
Direct Broadcast satellite |
ECHOSTAR-5 |
23-Sep-99 |
|
LMI-1 |
27-Sep-99 |
|
GE-4 |
13-Nov-99 |
|
ACeS (GARUDA) |
12-Feb-00 |
Proton launch vehicle |