Status
Partial Failure
Badr A & Aussat B-MFS
Mon Jul 16, 1990 00:40 UTC
The satellite and EPKM stage were launched into low orbit, but due to a failure of the attitude and orientation system of the stage, the EPKM didn't perform as expected.
It's likely that the EPKM and the satellite de-orbited by themselves due to the incorrect orientation, as no objects other than the second stage and Badr A satellite were tracked into orbit. Since Badr A was correctly separated and Aussat is only an inert simulation mass, the flight is considered a partial failure.
First flight of CZ-2E.
Rocket
Mission Details
Aussat B-MFS
Aussat-B-MFS was a mass model of the Aussat-B (later renamed Optus B) comsat launched on the maiden flight of the CZ-2E rocket. Aussat-B-MFS was a 2700 kg mass model representing an Aussat-B satellite. It was to be put into a geostationary transfer orbit of 340 km × 25740 km with an inclination of 24° by a Chinese build PKS perigee kick stage. On top of the Aussat-B-MFS, the small Pakistani Badr A satellite was carried to be released in low earth orbit.
Badr A
Badr-A (Urdu: بدر-۱, meaning Full Moon-A) was the first artificial and the first digital communications satellite launched by Pakistan's supreme national space authority — the SUPARCO — in 1990. The Badr-A was Pakistan's first indigenously developed and manufactured digital communications and an experimental artificial satellite which was launched into low Earth orbit by Pakistan on 16 July 1990, through a Chinese carrier rocket. The launch ushered new military, technological, and scientific developments in Pakistan and also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere.
Originally planned to be launched from the United States in 1986, the Challenger disaster further delayed the launch of the satellite which changed the plan. After the People's Republic of China offered Pakistan to use its facility, the Badr-A was finally launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in 1990 on Long March 2E. Badr-A travelled at 17,500 miles per hour (28,200 km/h), taking 96.3 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at the 145 to 435 MHz bands which were operated by the Pakistan Amateur Radio Society (PARS). The Badr-A successfully completed its designed life, and a new satellite was proposed to be developed.