Arabsat-1A was a Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

n communications satellite

Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...

 which was operated by Arabsat

Arab Satellite Communications Organization

The Arab Satellite Communications Organization is a leading communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat owns and operates five satellites platforms at orbital positions 20°, 26° and 30.5° East...

. It was used to provide communication services to the Arab States. It was constructed by Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale was a French aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale...

, based on the Spacebus 100 satellite bus

Satellite bus

A satellite bus or spacecraft bus is the general model on which multiple-production satellite spacecraft are often based. The bus is the infrastructure of a spacecraft, usually providing locations for the payload .They are most commonly used for geosynchronous satellites, particularly...

, and carries two NATO E/F-band (IEEE S band) and 25 NATO G/H-Band (IEEE C band) transponder

Transponder

In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...

s. At launch, it had a mass of 1170 kilograms (2,579.4 lb), and an expected operational lifespan of seven years.

Arabsat-1A was launched by Arianespace

Arianespace

Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....

 using an Ariane 3 rocket flying from ELA-1

ELA-1

ELA-1, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1 , also known as Ensemble de Lancement Vega, ELV, and CECLES, is a launch pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guyana...

 at Kourou. The launch took place at 23:22:00 GMT on 8 February 1985. It was the first Spacebus

Spacebus

Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and fifty-two have been launched since development started in the 1980s. Spacebus was originally produced by...

 satellite to be launched. Immediately after launch, one of its solar panels failed to deploy, resulting in reduced performance. It was placed into a geosynchronous orbit

Geosynchronous orbit

A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital period that matches the Earth's sidereal rotation period...

 at a longitude

Longitude

Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....

of 19° East. Following a series of gyroscope malfunctions, it was retired from active service, and remained operational as a backup. In September 1991, another problem developed with the spacecraft's attitude control system, and it began to drift eastward. It failed completely in March 1992.