Comparison of the Sirius satellites.
Sirius 4 added to table 27th March 2005. Details will be added when they become available.
The main satellite comparison index
| Satellite: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| . | (note 1) | . | . | |
| Launch | 27 / 8 / 1989 | 12 / 11 / 1997 | 5 / 10 / 1998 | 17 / 11 / 2007 |
| Launch Location | Cape Canaveral | Kourou | Kourou | Baikonur |
| Launch Mass (kg) | 1250 | 2980 | ? | ? |
| Expected Lifetime (years) | 10 | 15 | 12 | 15 |
| Power Consumption (watts) | 1024 | ? | ? | ? |
| Transponder Capacity at launch | 5 (+1 spare) | 32 | 15 | 46 Ku
band tp's 1 Ka band tp |
| TWTA Output (watts) | 55 (note 2) |
85 (note 3) |
? | ? |
| Transponder Bandwidth (MHz) | 27MHz | 26 @
33MHz 6 @ 36MHz |
33 MHz | ? |
| Channels (MHz) | 11700-12500 | 11700-12500 12500-12750 |
11700-12500 | ? |
| Current Location | junk orbit | derelict on geostationary arc | 5.0°E | 5.0°E |
| Possible Decommission Date |
5 /
2003 (note 4) |
16 /
1 / 2009 (note 5) |
2011 | 2022 |
| Manufacturer / Spacecraft type | Hughes HS-376 | Alcatel Spacebus-3000B2 |
Hughes HS-376HP | Lockheed Martin A2100AX |
| Stabilisation type | spin | 3-axis | spin | 3-axis |
Notes
1 Originally Marcopolo 1 - operated for the shortlived BSB operation until the early 1990's. Latterly known as Sirius 1 & Sirius W.
2 2 transponders could be strapped together to double the transmission power of 1 channel.
3 European beam. The Scandanavian beam is rated at 55W
4 decommisioned from 13W & sent to graveyard orbit May 2003 :-(
5 Sirius 2 was sent to 31.5E mid 2008 and redesignated Astra 5A. She suffered unexpected and total failure on 16th January 2009, reports suggest she started slowly tumbling. Frantic attempts to stabilise the craft failed and used up most of the onboard fuel at the same time. Before long the batteries discharged and attempts to save the craft ceased Within a few days she had started to slowly drift off station and shes now a derelict adrift on the geostationary arc.
If you arrived here from a search engine and dont see the frameset, click here to get to the front page.
The web site will not work properly if you dont.