Optus fleet of satellites

This is a list of the satellites operated by Optus, an Australian telecommunications company. The satellite communications facility is located at Belrose on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Optus' satellites are divided into 4 classes A, B, C and D. As of April 2014 it owns and operates Optus B3, Optus C1, Optus D1, Optus D2 and Optus D3 . Optus A1, Optus A2, Optus A3 and Optus B1 satellites have been retired . Optus has the largest network of satellites in Australia and New Zealand.

On February 2, 2014 NBN Co of Australia chose Optus for a five-year contract to operate two purpose-built satellites to deliver high speed broadband across rural and remote Australia.

The Aussat A-Class satellites were funded by the Government for Aussat Pty Ltd. When Optus was granted a telecommunications carrier licence in 1991, it was bundled with the purchase of Aussat Pty Limited as part of the carrier licence deal.

Aussat 1 was deployed by Space Shuttle Discovery during the first day of the STS-51-I mission.

Aussat 2 was deployed by Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-61-B mission.

Aussat 3 was launched from Guiana Space Centre by an Ariane 3.

The B-Class satellites were launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center by Long March rockets.

Optus B1 was moved to Junk orbit in May 2008.

Satellite Control Processor

On 21 May 2005 services were temporarily lost when the Primary Satellite Control Processor failed. The satellite was switched to use the Backup SCP in order to restore services. Thereafter the satellite continued to operate from the Backup SCP.

March 2006 Positioning Failure

At 06:52 UTC on 30 March 2006, a routine repositioning manoeuvre failed, resulting in loss of pointing control of the satellite. Although communication with the satellite was not lost, transmission services provided by the satellite failed due to its incorrect positioning. Services were progressively restored between 18:00 and 20:00 UTC.

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