AsiaSat 5 is a Chinese

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 communications satellite

Communications satellite

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

, which will be operated by the Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company

AsiaSat

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. is a commercial operator of communication spacecraft. AsiaSat is based in Hong Kong with two major shareholders, CITIC and General Electric.-Satellites:...

. It will be positioned in geostationary orbit

Geostationary orbit

A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...

 at a longitude of 100.5° East of the Greenwich Meridian, where it will replace the older AsiaSat 2

AsiaSat 2

AsiaSat 2 is a Chinese communications satellite, which is owned, and was initially operated, by the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It is currently positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 17° East of the Greenwich Meridian, on lease to Spacecom...

 spacecraft. It will be used to provide fixed satellite services, including broadcasting, telephone and broadband VSAT

Very small aperture terminal

A very-small-aperture terminal , is a two-way satellite ground station or a stabilized maritime Vsat antenna with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Data rates typically range from 56 kbps up to 4 Mbps...

 communications, to Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

.

AsiaSat 5 was built by Space Systems/Loral

Space Systems/Loral

Space Systems/Loral , of Palo Alto, California, is the wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. It was acquired in 1990 for $715 million by Loral Corp. from Ford Motor Company as the Space Systems Division of Ford Aerospace...

, and is based on the LS-1300LL 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...

. It is being launched by International Launch Services

International Launch Services

International Launch Services is a U.S.-Russian joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Proton rocket launch services from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.- Ownership :...

, using a Proton-M

Proton-M

The Proton-M, GRAU index 8K82M or 8K82KM, is a Russian carrier rocket derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services , and generally...

 rocket with a Briz-M

Briz-M

The Briz-M , is a Russian orbit insertion upper stage manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M rocket.- Characteristics :...

 upper stage. The launch was conducted from Site 200/39

Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 200

Site 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is a launch site used by Proton rockets. It consists of two launch pads, areas 39 and 40. Area 39 is currently used for Proton-M launches, including commercial flights conducted by International Launch Services. Area 40 is currently inactive, as it was slated to...

 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...

 in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, at 19:47 GMT on 11 August 2009. The Briz-M separated from the Proton-M nine minutes and forty one seconds into the flight, and AsiaSat 5 will separate from the Briz-M into a geosynchronous transfer orbit nine hours and fifteen minutes after liftoff. It will then raise itself into its final geostationary orbit.

The launch was originally scheduled to be conducted by Land Launch

Land Launch

Land Launch, a subsidiary of Sea Launch, conducts commercial launches of Zenit rockets from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45. It operates two-stage Zenit-2SLB and three stage Zenit-3SLB rockets....

, using a Zenit-3SLB

Zenit-3SLB

The Zenit-3SLB or Zenit-3M is a Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-2SLB. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau...

 carrier rocket. The satellite was subsequently re-awarded to ILS after Land Launch were unable to guarantee that the satellite could be launched by August 2009, in order to be in orbit before AsiaSat 2 ceased operations.

At launch, AsiaSat 5 had a mass of 3760 kilograms (8,289.4 lb), and was expected to operate for fifteen years. It carries 26 G

G band

-NATO G band:The G band in the modern sense is the range of radio frequencies from 4 GHz to 6 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is equal to wave lengths between 7.5 cm and 5 cm...

/H band

H band

H band can refer to two different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, in the radio and near-infrared.-Radio:The H band is the range of radio frequencies from 6 GHz to 8 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is equal to wave lengths between 5 cm and 3.75 cm...

 and 14 J band

J band

J band can refer to two different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, in the radio and near-infrared.-Radio:The J band is the range of radio frequencies from 10 GHz to 20 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is equal to wave lengths between...

 transponders (NATO frequency designation system, US IEEE C

C band

The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...

 and Ku band

Ku band

The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...

s respectively).