Intelsat

 

Intelsat, Ltd. is the world’s largest commercial satellite communications services provider. Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), it was an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast services. As of 2007, Intelsat owns and operates a fleet of 51 communications satellites. in June 2007 BC Partners announced they had acquired 76 percent of Intelsat for about 3.75 billion euros.^[1]

History

The consortium began on August 20, 1964, with 11 participating countries. On April 6 1965, Intelsat’s first satellite, the Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird), was placed in geostationary orbit above the Atlantic Ocean by a Delta D rocket.

On July 18 2001, Intelsat became a private company, 37 years after being formed. In the period prior to Intelsat's privatization in 2001, ownership and investment in INTELSAT (measured in shares) was distributed among INTELSAT members according to their respective use of services. Investment shares determined each member’s percentage of the total contribution needed to finance capital expenditures. The organization’s primary source of revenue came from satellite usage fees which, after deduction of operating costs, was redistributed to INTELSAT members in proportion to their shares as repayment of capital and compensation for use of capital. Satellite services were available to any organization (both INTELSAT members and non-members), and all users paid the same rates.

In 1973, the name was changed and there were 80 signatories. Intelsat provides service to over 600 Earth stations in more than 149 countries, territories and dependencies. By 2001, INTELSAT had over 100 members. It was also in this year when INTELSAT privatized and its name changed to Intelsat.

Since its inception, Intelsat has used several versions (blocks) of its dedicated Intelsat satellites. INTELSAT competes each block of spacecraft independently, leading to a variety of contractors over the years. Intelsat’s largest spacecraft supplier is Space Systems/Loral, having built 31 spacecraft (as of 2003), or nearly half of the fleet.

The network in its early years was not as robust as it is now. A failure of the Atlantic satellite in the spring of 1969 threatened to stop the Apollo 11 mission; a replacement satellite went into a bad orbit and could not be recovered in time; NASA had to resort to using undersea cable telephone circuits to bring Apollo's communications to NASA during the mission.^[2] Fortunately, during the Apollo 11 moonwalk, the moon was over the Pacific Ocean, and so other antennas were used, as well as INTELSAT III, which was in geostationary orbit of the Pacific.^[3]

Today, the number of Intelsat satellites, as well as ocean-spanning fibre-optic lines, allows rapid rerouting of traffic when one satellite fails. Modern satellites also are themselves more robust, lasting longer with much larger capacity.

Current operation

Intelsat was sold for U.S. $3.1bn in January 2005 to four private equity firms: Madison Dearborn Partners, Apax Partners, Permira and Apollo Management. The company acquired PanAmSat on July 3, 2006, and is now the world's largest provider of fixed satellite services, operating a fleet of 52 satellites in prime orbital locations. Intelsat maintains its corporate headquarters in Bermuda, with a majority of staff and satellite functions — administrative headquarters — located at the Intelsat Corporation offices in Washington, DC. A highly international business, Intelsat sources the majority of its revenue from non-U.S. located customers.

Spacecraft operations are controlled through ground stations in Clarksburg, Maryland (USA), Hagerstown, Maryland (USA), Riverside, California (USA), and Fuchsstadt, Germany.^[4]

Intelsat was operating Intelsat Americas-7 (known formerly as Telstar 7 and now known as Galaxy 27) which experienced a several-day power failure on 29 November 2004.^[5] The satellite returned to service with reduced capacity.^[6]

Renaming

On February 1, 2007, Intelsat changed the names of 16 of its satellites formerly known under the Intelsat Americas and PanAmSat brands to Galaxy and Intelsat, respectively.^[7]

References

1. ^ BC Partners Wins Control Of Satellite Group Intelsat. SpaceDaily.
2. ^ Donald E. Kimberlin (June 1, 1994). Camelot on the Moon. Retrieved on September 22, 2006.
3. ^ On Eagle's Wings: The Parkes Observatory's Support of the Apollo 11 Mission (PDF). Astronomical Society of Australia (July 1, 2001). Retrieved on September 22, 2006.
4. ^ http://www.intelsat.com/aboutus/careers/locations.aspx List of Intelsat locations
5. ^ http://portal.wikinerds.org/node/152 Wikinerds.org posting concerning IA-7 outage
6. ^ Gunter's Space Page - information on Galaxy 27
7. ^ http://www.intelsat.com/network/satellite/new-names.asp Further renaming information at Intelsat.

See also

• Eutelsat
• Inmarsat
• Intersputnik
• Intelsat Americas
• SES S.A.
• COMSAT

External links

• Company home page

Data

• Yahoo! - Intelsat, Ltd. Company Profile
• Pacific Satellite Fails

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