Spaceway F1

SPACEWAY-1

Operator	DirecTV
Mission duration	12 years
Spacecraft properties
Bus	BSS-702
Manufacturer	Boeing
Start of mission
Launch date	April 26, 2005 (2005-04-26)
Rocket	Zenit-3SL
Launch site	Odyssey
Contractor	Sea Launch
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Geostationary
Longitude	103.0° West
Transponders
Frequency	500 MHz

Spaceway F1 is part of DirecTV’s constellation of direct broadcast satellites. The satellite was launched via a Zenit 3SL rocket from Sea Launch’s Odyssey equatorial platform on April 26, 2005. Its operational position is in geosynchronous orbit 35,800 kilometres (22,200 mi) above the equator at 103.0 degrees west longitude. SPACEWAY-1 is a Boeing 702-model satellite with a 12-year life expectancy. It provides high definition television to DirecTV customers with its K_a-band communications payload. DirecTV is not expected to make use of the broadband capabilities on SPACEWAY-1 even though it was originally built by Boeing for this purpose.

SPACEWAY-1 was the heaviest commercial communications satellite (13,400-lb or 6,080-kg) ever put into orbit until iPSTAR-1 (6,775 kg) was launched by Arianespace on August 11, 2005.

DirecTV-10 is co-located with SPACEWAY-1 in order to use the 500 MHz of unused spectrum for HDTV broadcasting. This spectrum was originally intended for the broadband internet capabilities of the two SPACEWAY satellites which were disabled by Hughes at the request of DirecTV.

External links

• Boeing page on 702 type spacecraft including SPACEWAY