This is a list of the satellites operated byOptus, an Australian telecommunications company. The satellite communications facility is located atBelrose onSydney'sNorthern Beaches.[1] Optus' satellites are divided into 4 classes A, B, C and D. As of April 2014 it owns and operates Optus B3, Optus C1, Optus D1, Optus D2 and Optus D3. Optus A1, Optus A2, Optus A3 and Optus B1 satellites have been retired.[2] Optus has the largest network of satellites in Australia and New Zealand.[3]
On 2 February 2014,NBN Co of Australia chose Optus for a five-year contract to operate two purpose-built satellites (theSky Muster satellites) to deliver high speed broadband across rural and remote Australia.[4][5]
The Aussat A-Class satellites were funded by the Government for Aussat Pty Ltd. When Optus was granted a telecommunications carrier licence in 1991, it was bundled with the purchase of Aussat Pty Limited as part of the carrier licence deal.
Aussat 1 was deployed bySpace Shuttle Discovery during the first day of theSTS-51-I mission.
Aussat 2 was deployed bySpace Shuttle Atlantis during theSTS-61-B mission.
Aussat 3 was launched fromGuiana Space Centre by anAriane 3.[8]
The B-Class satellites were manufactured byHughes and launched from theXichang Satellite Launch Center byLong March rockets. The two satellites were the first U.S.-built satellites to be approved by theReagan administration for launch on Chinese rockets. To break into the commercial launch market, the Chinese offered to launch for less than half of what a U.S. launch company would charge.[9]
Optus B1 was moved to Junk orbit in May 2008.
Satellite Control Processor
On 21 May 2005 services were temporarily lost when the Primary Satellite Control Processor failed. The satellite was switched to use the Backup SCP in order to restore services. Thereafter the satellite continued to operate from the Backup SCP.[11][12]
March 2006 Positioning Failure
At 06:52UTC on 30 March 2006, a routine repositioning manoeuvre failed, resulting in loss of pointing control of the satellite. Although communication with the satellite was not lost, transmission services provided by the satellite failed due to its incorrect positioning. Services were progressively restored between 18:00 and 20:00UTC.[13][14][15][16][17]
Local time at the time of the start of the outage ranged from 14:52AWST to 18:52NZST, a peak time for listeners and viewers of the radio and television broadcast and subscription services provided directly or indirectly by the satellite.
TheLong March 2E rocket carrying Optus B2 experienced a collapse of the payload fairing, destroying the satellite.[18][19] The rocket continued functioning and delivered the debris intolow Earth orbit.[20] The cause of the failure could not be determined at the time.[21] However, the Long March 2E experienced the same payload fairing collapse when launchingApstar 2 in 1995. Based on instrumentation added to the satellite, Hughes determined that the failure was caused by aerodynamic forces and wind shear.[20] The information provided by Hughes caused great political controversy in the United States, which subsequently banned U.S. satellites from being launched on Chinese rockets.[22]
Optus B3 was launched as a replacement for Optus B2. After the fairing failure that destroyed Optus B2, Hughes recommended reinforcement of the fairing. The Chinese chose not to follow the recommendations and instead added more rivets.[20] The launch of Optus B3 was successful, but the next launch of the Long March 2E experienced another fairing failure and destroyed the Apstar 2 satellite.
This satellite is owned by theCommonwealth Bank of Australia and leased back to Singtel Optus. It was replaced by Optus D2.[10]
Partially funded by the Australian Government (Defence Department) – Optus C1's use is shared between Defence and Telecommunications, in particular the supply of Television services to Australia.Mitsubishi Electric was the prime contractor responsible for manufacturing all the Optus C1 communications systems.[25]
The D1 and D2 satellites replace and expand the services provided by the B1 and B3 satellites respectively, which had both been operating beyond their design lifetimes. The D3 satellite is co-located with C1 to expand capacity.
D1 was successfullylaunched by anAriane 5 ECA on 13 October 2006 at 20:56UTC.[26] It was the first satellite to sign contract forLaunch Services Alliance mission assurance.[27]
Customers on D1 include theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC),Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), theSeven Network, theNine Network,Sky Television New Zealand and New Zealand'sKordia (formerly known as BCL). D1 also supportsVSAT users.[28]
Kordia is leasing a full transponder for sublease toTVNZ (TVNZ 1 & TVNZ 2) andDiscovery New Zealand (Three & Bravo) for theFreeview service. The Kordia transponder will be on 12.4697 GHz.[29]
During in-orbit testing of the satellite, it was discovered that the New Zealand spot beam had been configured with horizontal polarisation instead of the expected vertical polarisation – as had been used on its predecessorOptus B1.[30][31]
As many existing receivers did not have the ability to receive horizontally aligned signals,Sky Television was unable to transfer services from Optus B1 to this beam as expected. Sky was instead assigned capacity on the more general Australia/NZ beam. Due to restrictions on broadcast rights (in terms of bothbroadcast licensing andcopyright), the unencryptedFreeview service could not make a similar allocation switch and was set up as a horizontally-aligned service on the New Zealand spot beam.[32]
On 31 July 2007, Sky successfully performed an over the air software upgrade to all of its customerset-top boxes, enabling them to receive the horizontally-aligned signals from the New Zealand spot beam. Accordingly, Sky was able to return to their original capacity allocation.[33]
D2 was successfullylaunched from theGuiana Space Centre by anAriane 5 GS on 5 October 2007 at 22:02UTC.[35]
Optus D2 replaced Optus B3, which had been in operation for 13 years at the time of D2's launch.[36]
D2 also carries a large number of Free To Air channels, many in languages other than English
The third in the D series of Optus satellites was successfully launched into ageostationary transfer orbit on 21 August 2009 at 22:09UTC byArianespace using anAriane 5 ECA launch vehicle from Europe's Spaceport inKourou,French Guiana.[38] The satellite will be co-located with Optus C1 at156° east. Optus sold 25% of the transponder capacity (6 out of 24) toFoxtel to provide High Definition programming as well as "new channels, expanded digital services and enhanced picture and sound quality".[41][42]
"Optus 10", was awarded to Space Systems/Loral, and announced on 21 March 2011 in a press release by OptusCEO Paul O'Sullivan. The satellite will provide "high quality broadcast services to households, and two way voice and data communication services to areas in and around Australia and NZ", and "satellite services to Australia and NZ Government departments, premium companies and broadcasters including FOXTEL, ABC, SBS, Seven Network, Nine Network, Network Ten,Globecast Australia and Sky TV New Zealand.".[44]
Optus 11 is expected to be launched in Q4 2025 by anAriane 6 rocket.[46] The Ariane 64 configuration for this mission will provide enhanced launch energy performance to directly insert the Optus-11 satellite into a high-energy geostationary transfer orbit, enabling it to be commissioned more quickly.[47]
