JCSAT-RA, previously known as JCSAT-12, is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese geostationary communications satellite

Communications satellite

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

, which is operated by JSAT Corporation

JSAT Corporation

JSAT Corporation is satellite operator with a fleet of 8 satellites in orbit. According to a 2004 report, JSAT was the fifth largest satellite operator in the world, ranked by 2003 fiscal year revenue...

. It was ordered to replace the JCSAT-11 satellite which was lost in a launch failure on 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...

/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 :...

 rocket in 2007, and is currently used as an on-orbit spare satellite; a role in which it replaced the older JCSAT-R spacecraft, providing a reserve for if one of the company's other satellites fails. It is a 4000 kilograms (8,818.5 lb) satellite, which was constructed by Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

 based on the A2100AX 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...

, with the same configuration as JCSAT-10 and JCSAT-11. The contract to built JCSAT-12 was awarded on 6 September 2007, the day after JCSAT-11 failed to reach orbit.

It was launched, along with the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n Optus D3

Optus D3

Optus D3 is an Australian geostationary communications satellite, which is operated by Optus and provides communications services to Australasia. D3 was the third Optus-D satellite to be launched...

 satellite, 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....

. An Ariane 5ECA

Ariane 5

Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...

 rocket was used for the launch, which occurred from ELA-3

ELA-3

ELA-3, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3 , is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guyana. ELA-3 is operated by Arianespace as part of the expendable launch system for Ariane 5 rockets...

 at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou

Kourou

Kourou is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America.Kourou is the location of the Guiana Space Centre, France and ESA's main spaceport.-Geography:...

, French Guiana

French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

. The launch took place at 22:09 GMT on 21 August 2009, at the start of a 60 minute launch window

Launch window

Launch window is a term used in spaceflight to describe a time period in which a particular launch vehicle must be launched. If the rocket does not launch within the "window", it has to wait for the next window....

.

JCSAT-12 separated from its carrier rocket into a geosynchronous transfer orbit, from which raise itself to 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...

 using a LEROS-1C apogee motor. It has a design life of fifteen years, and carries forty two transponder

Transponder

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

s; twelve G/H band, and thirty J band (US IEEE C and Ku bands respectively).