Apstar 2

Launch Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

22:40:00

Wednesday January 25, 1995

Mission Details

Launch Notes

Payload fairing collapsed due to structural deficiency, aggravated by excessive vibration caused by wind shear. The failed rocket also veered off course after launch and killed at least six people on the ground. The origin of the vibrations that caused the failure is still unknown. Hughes and China concluded that both the fairing and the satellite were faulty. As it seems more likely that the Chinese fairing was the cause, this flight is counted as a failure. Last flight of the CZ-2E without its EPKM upper stage.

Apstar 2

Wiki

The APStar 2 satellite was designed to serve two-thirds of the world's population - from China, Japan, and Vietnam on the east; to Russia, Eastern Europe, and India on the west; and to Australia on the south. APT Satellite Company, Ltd., of Hong Kong, ordered the high-power Hughes HS 601 spacecraft model in November 1993, as well as satellite control facility equipment and operator training. APStar 2 was to have provided video services for program distribution and syndication; data services for business applications; and services for video, radio, data, and telephone transmission. The C-band payload, using 52-watt traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), had 26 active and six spare transponders. The Ku-band payload had six active channels (with two spares) powered by 50-watt TWTAs and two high-power channels (with one spare) powered by 120-watt TWTAs. APStar 2 was designed to generate 4300 Watts with its two solar wings, each carrying four panels of K-4 3/4 solar cells. The APStar 2 configuration included two dual-surface, hexagonal reflectors, each with a diameter of 2.1 meters, located on the east and west sides. A 30-cell nickel-hydrogen battery was included to power the spacecraft during an eclipse. APStar 2 used Hughes' advanced shaped-reflector technology, which concentrates the satellite's beam over targeted land areas while avoiding uninhabited oceans. Hughes' patented, highly efficient design eliminates the need for multiple feedhorn configurations.

Geostationary Transfer Orbit

1 Payload

3,000 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Long March 2E

Active 1992 to 1995

China Aerospace Corporation logo

Agency

CAC

Rocket

Height: 49.73m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 9,500 kg

GTO: 3,500 kg

Liftoff Thrust

5,923 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 4.2m

Height: 12m

Stages

2

Strap-ons

4

Launch Site

LC-2

Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China

Fastest Turnaround

18 days

Stats

Long March 2E


5th

Mission

1st

Mission of 1995

1995


4th

Orbital launch attempt