Intelsat IV F-4

Intelsat IV F-4

Mission type	Communications
Operator	Intelsat
COSPAR ID	1972-003A
SATCAT no.	05775
Mission duration	7 years (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Bus	HS-312
Manufacturer	Hughes Aircraft
Launch mass	1,414 kilograms (3,117 lb)
BOL mass	730 kilograms (1,610 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	January 23, 1972, 00:12:04 (1972-01-23UTC00:12:04Z) UTC[1]
Rocket	Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-36B
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric[2]
Regime	Geostationary[2]
Eccentricity	0.71954[2]
Perigee altitude	602 kilometers (374 mi)[2]
Apogee altitude	36,418 kilometers (22,629 mi)[2]
Inclination	21.8°[2]
Period	651.3 minutes[2]
Epoch	January 23, 1972[2]
Transponders
Band	12 IEEE C-band
Bandwidth	36 MHz
Intelsat IV

Intelsat IV F-4 was a geostationary communication satellite built by Hughes, it was owned by Intelsat. The satellite was based on the HS-312 platform and its estimated useful life was 7 years.

History

The Intelsat IV F-4 was part of the Intelsat IV series which consisted of eight communications satellites, launched from Cape Canaveral during the early 1970s, marked the fifth generation of geostationary communications satellites developed by the Hughes Aircraft Company since 1963 with the launch of Syncom II, the world's first synchronous satellite. The Syncom II was 15 cm high and 28 inches in diameter, weighing 78 Lbs in orbit. In contrast, the Intelsat IVs weighed more than 1,300Lbs (595 kg) into orbit and were more than 17 feet (5.2 meters) in diameter. All seven satellites exceeded their projected life expectancies and were withdrawn from active duty, the last of which, the Intelsat IV F-1 was retired in October 1987.

The satellite was equipped with 12 C-band transponders. It had 6,000 two-way relay phone calls or broadcast 12 concurrent color television programs or mixed combinations of communications traffic including data and fax.

The satellite had 12 channels of broadband communication. Each channel had a bandwidth of 40 MHz and provided about 500 communication circuits.

On January 14, 1973, it was used for the broadcast of Elvis Presley's live concert Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite.^[3]

Launch

The satellite was successfully launched into space on January 23, 1972, at 00:12:04 UTC, by means of an Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D vehicle from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States. It had a launch mass of 1,414 kg.^[4]

See also

• 1972 in spaceflight

References

1. McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
2. NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center. "INTELSAT 4 F-4". NSSDC Master Catalog. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
3. Haeussler, Matthias (2020). Inventing Elvis: An American Icon in a Cold War World. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-350-10767-0.
4. Krebs, Gunter. Intelsat-4A. Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 21 April 2017.