Please make a donation to support Gunter's Space Page.
Thank you very much for visiting Gunter's Space Page. I hope that this site is useful and informative for you.
If you appreciate the information provided on this site, please consider supporting my work by making a simple and secure donation via PayPal. Please help to run the website and keep everything free of charge. Thank you very much.

APStar 6B

APStar-6B is a communications satellite built as potential backup for the APStar-6 satellite.

To minimize its potential losses, APT secured a commitment from launch-services supplier China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC) of Beijing that, in the event of an APStar-6 launch failure, CGWIC would design, build and launch an Apstar-6B satellite for $120 million.

Insurance and other charges would bring the cost of Apstar-6B to $165 million. Apstar-6B would use China's DFH-4 satellite design and carry 28 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders.

After the successful launch of APStar-6, APStar 6B was to be launched in 2008 to enhance the APT satellite system, but apparently APT did not execise the option and the satellite was cancelled in 2006.

Nation: China
Type / Application: Communication
Operator: APT Satellite Company Ltd.
Contractors: CAST
Equipment: 28 C-band transponders, 16 Ku-band transponders
Configuration: DFH-4 Bus
Propulsion:
Power: 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries
Lifetime: 15 years
Mass:
Orbit: GEO
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
APStar 6B - cancelled Xi LC-2 CZ-3B

References:

  • CAST website
Further APStar missions:

Cite this page: