Comparison of Thor 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 satellites.

Thor 2-R ordered 20th September 2005, and details added to table. Details will be updated as more info becomes available.

Thor 2R redesignated Thor 5 19/2/2007 - yes they have missed "Thor 4" out!

Thor 6 ordered 24/4/2007, and provisional details added.

The main satellite comparison index

Satellite: Thor 1 Thor 2 Thor 3 Thor 5 Thor 6
. (note 1) . . . .
Launch 18 / 8 / 1990 21 / 5 / 1997 10 / 6 / 1998 11 / 2 / 2008 summer 2009
Launch Location Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral Baikonur will be Kourou
Launch Mass (kg) 1250 ? ? 2005 2999
Expected Lifetime (years) 10 11 11 15 15
Power Consumption (watts) 1025 1400 1400 ~3600 5900
Transponder Capacity at launch 5 (+1spare) 15 (+ 3 spare) 14 24 36
TWTA Output (watts) 55
(note 2)		 40 47 150 - BSS
55 - FSS		 91 - BSS
53.5 - FSS
Transponder Bandwidth (MHz) 27 26 33 33 - BSS
27 - FSS		 33 - BSS
27 - FSS
Channels (MHz) ? 11200-11450 11700-12500 11200-11450
11700-12500		 10700-10950
11700-12500
Current Location junk orbit 0.8ºW 0.8ºW will be 0.8ºW will be 0.8°W
Possible
Decommission Date		 9 / 1 / 2003 2008 2010 2023 2024
Manufacturer / Spacecraft type Hughes
HS-376		 Hughes
HS-376 HP		 Hughes
HS-376 HP		 Orbital StartM Thales Alenia Space
4000B2
Stabilisation type spin spin spin 3-axis 3-axis

Notes

1    Originally BSB 2 (Marcopolo 2). Removed from service at 0.8W early 2002. Right Hand Circular (RHC) polarisation. Moved to 7.3W November 2002, and put back into service. Moved back  to 1W end 2002.  Thor 1 moved to graveyard orbit January 2003

2    2 twta's could be run together to double output of 1 channel. 2 channels could be run at high power simultaniously. The channels running at high power could be set up by radio command.

 

 

 

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