Superbird-B1

The spacecraft was the third satellite designed and manufactured by Ford Aerospace on the SSL 1300 satellite bus. It was based on the design of the Intelsat V series and offered a three-axis stabilized platform.[5][7][8][9]

It had a launch mass of 2,560 kg (5,640 lb) and a 10-year design life.[1] When stowed for launch, its dimensions were 2.41 m × 2.58 m × 2.20 m (7 ft 11 in × 8 ft 6 in × 7 ft 3 in). With its solar panels fully extended it spanned 20.3 m (67 ft). Its power system generated approximately 3,984 W of power due to two wings with three solar panels each.[5] It also had two NiH₂ battery to survive the solar eclipses. It would serve as the main satellite on the 162°E longitude position of the Superbird fleet.[5][10]

Its propulsion system included an R-4D-11 LAE with a thrust of 490 N (110 lb_f).[5] It included enough propellant for orbit circularization and 10 years of operation.[5]

Its payload is composed of 23 K_u band plus 3 K_a band and 2 X band transponders.[5]

Space Communications Corporation (SCC) was founded in 1985, the same year as the original companies that later formed JSAT.[11] On 1986 SCC ordered four spacecraft, Superbird-1, Superbird-2, Superbird-A1 and Superbird-B1, from Ford Aerospace, which became Space Systems/Loral in October 1990.[8]

On February 22, 1990 at 23:19 UTC, Superbird-2 launch failed and the satellite was lost.[6] Thus, Superbird-B1 was rushed and delivered in just 19 months.[5][10] On February 26, 1992 at 23:58:10 UTC Superbird-B1, the fourth private communications satellite of Japan to orbit, was launched aboard an Ariane 44L along Arabsat-1C.[5] It was injected into a 222 km × 35,776 km × 7° geosynchronous transfer orbit, from which it climbed through three liquid apogee engine firings.[1]