ST-2 at 88° East
Position: | 88° East |
Manufacturer: | Mitsubishi Electric |
Operator: | SingTel |
Launch operator: | Arianespace |
Launch vehicle: | Ariane 5ECA |
Launch date: | 03/20/2011 |
Expected lifetime: | 15+ Years |
Satellite operator SingTel and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom Company Limited (Chunghwa) ordered the ST-2 communications satellite with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) from Japan. SingTel and Chunghwa jointly own also the ST-1 and use this satellite in their various communications businesses. The ST-2 will succeed the ST-1 as their next communications satellite.
With this order MELCO will be the first Japanese satellite manufacturer to enter the commercial communications satellite market outside Japan, using its original Japan-made satellite bus-platform.
For the production of the ST-2, Mitsubishi Electric has proposed to use its original DS-2000 satellite busplatform, which was developed based on the ETS-8 made for NASDA.
The satellite was launched on May 20th, 2011 on an Ariane 5ECA launcher operated by launch operator Arianespace and will replace the ST-1 satellite that was taken out of service.