The Defense Department and the Australian Defence Force are now sharing hosted payload space thanks to a commercial satellite launched on Sunday.
Intelsat 22, a 702MP (medium power) satellite produced by Boeing [BA] for Intelsat, was launched on Sunday and Boeing received the first on-orbit signals from the satellite 15 hours, 40 minutes later, according to a Boeing company statement.
Intelsat Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs Richard DalBello told Defense Daily in a phone interview yesterday DoD signed a deal with the Australians “a few years ago” to receive 10 Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels out of 20.
“They entered into an international agreement with the Australians for half of the capacity,” DalBello said. “My understanding of the agreement is they got half of the capacity through the life of the satellite.”
DalBello said he estimated the life of the satellite at 15 years.
The on-orbit signals indicate the satellite is “healthy” and ready to begin orbit raising maneuvers to geostationary orbit followed by operational testing, according to a statement.
Following a sequence of orbital maneuvers and on-orbit tests, Intelsat 22 will be placed into geosynchronous Earth orbit, operating in a 72 degrees east longitude orbital slot over the Indian Ocean, according to a statement.
Intelsat 22 is the first of a series of satellites being produced by Boeing for Intelsat, according to a Boeing statement. Other 702MP satellites currently under construction by Boeing for Intelsat are Intelsat 21, scheduled to launch in the third quarter of this year, and Intelsat 27, scheduled to be completed this year for launch in 2013. Intelsat 27 will carry a UHF hosted payload and offer 20 25-KHz UHF channels capable of serving the U.S. government and other Intelsat clients around the world, according to a statement.
DalBello said unlike other satellites, UHF is discussed in terms of channels. Each channel can be subdivided into other further channels for multiple voice and data communication, also commonly known as narrow-band communications. Wideband, or broadband communications, is for moving video, DalBello added.
Hosted payloads are where entities, typically governments, rent space or bandwidth on commercial satellites to save money compared to the cost of procuring their own satellites or their own launches.