[Satellite Today – 2-26-08] Measat Satellite Systems Measat-1R satellite will be launched in the third quarter of 2008, Measat announced Feb. 26.
    The satellite, being built by Orbital Sciences Inc., has been renamed Measat-3a and will be co-located with Measat-3 at 91.5° East. The satellite will provide 12 C-band transponders providing coverage across a region bounded by Africa and Eastern Europe in the West to Japan and Australia in the East and 12 Ku-Band transponders to service direct-to-home customers in Malaysia and Indonesia.
    “The renaming of Measat-1R to Measat-3a better reflects the satellite’s mission to provide expansion capacity and in-orbit redundancy COO of Measat, said in a statement. “With key capacity on the Measat-3 satellite already fully utilized and a strong pipeline of customer awaiting capacity on Measat-3a, we are very pleased to have a confirmed launch slot for the new satellite earlier than originally expected.”