Westar

Westar was the name for the fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C-band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. There were 7 Westar satellites in all, 5 launched and operating under the Westar name.

During the life of the Westar fleet, Western Union had the primary earth station for telemetry control, tracking & uplinking to the Westar satellites situated at Glenwood, New Jersey , with additional earth stations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles.

Westar 1 (launched on April 13, 1974) has the distinction of being the USA's first commercially-launched geosynchronous communications satellite, following North America's first geosynchronous communications satellite, Canada's Anik 1 in 1973.

Westar 2 was launched shortly afterward on October 10, 1974, and Westar 3 was launched on August 10, 1979. Westars 1,2 & 3 were built by Hughes using the HS-333 platform of spin-scan stabilized satellites. They only had 12 transponders onboard, as opposed to later C-band communications satellites having 24.

The later Westar 4 (launched on February 26, 1982) & Westar 5 (launched on June 9, 1982) satellites, were based off the Hughes HS-376 platforms, and had 24 transponders available, as opposed to the 12 on Westars 1, 2, & 3.

Westar 6 , also a HS-376 based satellite, was launched on February 3, 1984, and to be put into service afterward, but the perigee kick motor (also known as the Payload Assist Module , or PAM, also known as the PAM-D ) on the satellite during its approach to geosynchronous orbit failed, placing it at an improper & inoperable low earth orbit. It was retrieved on November 16, 1984, by the STS-19 (also known as STS-51A ) mission of NASA's Space Shuttle, where it was brought back to earth and refurbished. It was then resold to China, and relaunched on April 7, 1990, as Asiasat 1 . The space shuttle mission to retrieve Westar 6 (as well as the Palapa B2 satellite, which shared the launch payload with Westar 6) was funded by the insurance companies that insured the launch of those two satellites.

An on-ground spare satellite to Westar 6, Westar 6S , was in development by Western Union and Hughes when Western Union decided to divest themselves of their telecommunications-based assets in the early 1980's after suffering heavy financial losses. This resulted in Western Union selling the Westar satellite fleet & operations to Hughes in 1988.

Hughes then finished development of Westar 6S, and re-named it Galaxy 6 . Modifications were made to it, and Galaxy 6 was launched on October 12, 1990.

External Links

• Description of the Westar satellites at Boeing Satellite System's (formerly Hughes) web site
• Description of Westars 1,2 & 3 at Gunter's Space Page
• Description of Westars 4,5, & 6 at Gunter's Space Page
• The Satellite Encyclopedia's entry for Westar 1
• The Satellite Encyclopedia's entry for Westar 2
• The Satellite Encyclopedia's entry for Westar 3
• The Satellite Encyclopedia's entry for Westar 4
• The Satellite Encyclopedia's entry for Westar 5
• The Satellite Encyclopedia's entry for Westar 6