UHF 8

Also called USA 138

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General

Designation	25258 / 98016A
Launch date	16 Mar 1998
Country of origin	United States
Mission	Military: telecommunications
Geostationary orbit	169°E (till Mar 1999 when the orbit was classified; unofficial: 172°E, inclined)
Launch vehicle	Atlas Centaur #115

First UHF satellite with the GBS (Global Broadcast System) payload. It replaces the current SHF capability with four 130 W, 24 MHz military Ka band transponders, 3 steerable downlink spot beam antennas and one steerable uplink (+ 1 fixed) receive antenna per satellite. This will provide 96 Mbps throughput. The GBS payload is provided by Hughes Information Systems (HIS, Reston, Virginia)

The satellite had a partial failure in orbit; insurance paid $2 million.

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Location

Begin	End	Position
L: 16 Mar 1998	Apr 1998	172°W
Jun 1998	Jan 1999	169°E
		orbit classified (161°W?)

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External resources

sat-index articles

Technical data

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Specifications
UHF
EHF
GBS

S-band telemetry.

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