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ProtoStar Ltd was a private company incorporated in Bermuda, with U.S. operations based in San Francisco, California and Asian operations based in Singapore. ProtoStar intended to operate an initial fleet of three geostationary satellites.[1] Two satellites were acquired and launched. ProtoStar's anchor customer, Dish TV India Limited, is the largest direct-to-home television operator in India.[2]
ProtoStar Ltd filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware on June 29, 2009.[3]
ProtoStar sought and was made by the bankruptcy court to auction its two satellites to pay its outstanding liabilities. The auction for ProtoStar I was set by the bankruptcy court for October 14, 2009,[4] however the auction was delayed until October 31, 2009, based on interest from 11 different satellite operating companies.[5] The auction was won by Intelsat Corp with a bid of $210M, beating out European rival Eutelsat.[6]
The ProtoStar I satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) based on the SS/L 1300 spacecraft design. It was originally built by SS/L as the ChinaSat 8 satellite and scheduled for launch in April 1999 on a Long March 3B rocket.[7] However, the U.S. Department of State blocked its export to China under ITAR regulations.[8] The satellite was placed in storage and sold to ProtoStar in 2006.[9]
On January 5, 2007, SS/L announced that the satellite would be modified to meet ProtoStar's requirements.[10] The fueled satellite weighed 4,100 kilograms (9,000 lb) and will operate in both the Ku band and the C band.[11]
On January 8, 2007 Arianespace announced that ProtoStar had contracted with Arianespace for the launch of ProtoStar I.[11] It was launched aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket on July 7, 2008.[12] Post-launch maneuvering of the satellite was performed successfully July 8, 2008.,[2] and ProtoStar I was placed into its geostationary orbital location of 98.5 degrees East Longitude.
Following the sale of ProtoStar I in the ProtoStar bankruptcy auction, October 29, 2009, and the completion of the sale with Intelsat, Intelsat renamed the satellite Intelsat 25.[13] Intelsat 25 will serve for African market at 31.5 West orbital location.
On January 14, 2008, Boeing announced that the Boeing Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, California would provide a spacecraft based on the Boeing 601HP spacecraft design for use as ProtoStar II.[14] The spacecraft was originally built for PanAmSat (now Intelsat) to be used as Galaxy-8iR, but that contract was terminated November 15, 2002.[15] On May 16, 2009, ProtoStar II was carried to orbit on a Proton rocket provided by International Launch Services.[16]
On June 16, 2009, Boeing announced the successful in-orbit handover of the satellite to ProtoStar Ltd. following successful in-orbit tests.[17]
In December 2009 SES purchased Protostar II at auction for its SES World Skies unit. The purchase price was $185 million.[18]
The ProtoStar I ground control system is in Singapore and will be operated by SingTel. For ProtoStar II the primary control system will be installed in Indonesia and operated by Indovision, with a backup system integrated into the control system for ProtoStar I. Hardware and software for these systems are being provided by Integral Systems.[19]
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