ICO announced Monday that the first in a series of innovative medium-earth orbit satellites has completed payload panel integration at Hughes Space & Communications International in Los Angeles. The integration of payload panels puts the first satellite, F-1, on schedule for launch in mid-December 1998 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS booster from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida.
Hughes is using an innovative assembly process to build the ICO
satellite series, enabling the transmit and receive antenna modules
as well as the forward and return transponder panels to be
constructed simultaneously and then integrated with the satellite's
bus module.
Last month, the F-1 bus module, which contains attitude control,
power, propulsion, thermal control, and telemetry and command
subsystems, was tested under conditions simulating in-orbit
operations.
The final elements to be integrated on the F-1 are the
state-of-the-art digital signal processors. Custom-designed for
ICO, they offer greatly increased processing capacity over
traditional analog designs and much greater flexibility in the
allocation of bandwidth and channels to antenna beams.
The design of the digital signal processors has been verified
through testing of flight engineering models. The flight models for
ICO F-1 currently are in the advanced integration stage and will be
incorporated into the satellite in the next few weeks.
The F-1 spacecraft will undergo a series of mechanical and
thermal environmental tests prior to the final launch preparation
testing.
Meanwhile, the Atlas IIAS vehicle scheduled for the first ICO launch
is undergoing final booster assembly at Lockheed Martin's facility
in Denver and is on schedule for shipment to Cape Canaveral in
September. The satellite will be shipped in November.
ICO plans to launch a total of 12 satellites, including two
in-orbit spares, during a 20-month period ending in mid-2000. Five
satellites are scheduled to be carried on Boeing Delta III rockets,
also from Cape Canaveral, three on Proton boosters from Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and three on Sea Launch Zenits.
Hughes Space & Communications International is the prime
contractor for the ICO space segment. The ICO body-stabilized MEO
satellites are enhanced versions of the Hughes HS 601 flight-proven
spacecraft, weighing just over 6,000 pounds (2,750 kilograms) at
launch.
The operational satellites will orbit at an altitude of
10,390 kilometers — divided equally between two orthogonal planes, each
at 45 degrees to the equator — to provide complete, overlapping
coverage of the earth. Each satellite will carry payloads operating
in C-band and S-band to support 4,500 simultaneous telephone calls.
The satellites are designed to operate for at least 12 years.
ICO Global Communications was established in January 1995 as a
private company to provide global mobile personal communications
services by satellite, including digital voice, data, fax and
messaging services. It has currently raised more than $2 billion in equity
contributions and has 60 investors, comprising telecommunications and
technology companies from over 50 markets around the world. ICO will
begin full operation in the year 2000.
