Oct 1 2003
From The Space Library
A telecommunications satellite jointly owned by the United States and Japan~known as Horizons 1 or Galaxy 13~launched aboard a Sea Launch Zenit 3-SL rocket from a platform in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Connecticut-based PanAmSat and Tokyo-based JSAT corporations launched the craft to provide digital video, Internet, and data transmission services to Hawaii and to Central America and North America. PanAmSat owned the satellite's C-band payload Galaxy 13 and planned to use it as part of the company's Galaxy cable constellation. President and CEO of PanAmSat Joseph R. Wright Jr. remarked that the addition of Galaxy 13 to the company's fleet would create the first high-definition neighborhood and would help to meet the growing demand for high-resolution television. The two companies would jointly operate the satellite's Ku-band payload Horizons 1, which would offer a variety of digital video, Internet, and data services, as well as creating new IP-based content-distribution networks. (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 600, 1 November 2003, http://nssdc.GSFC.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx600.html (accessed 27 January 2009); Justin Ray, “Communications Satellite Launched from Pacific Ocean,” Spaceflight Now, 2 October 2003.
Japan merged its three space agencies with the goal of saving US$89.8 million a year. According to the new configuration, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would manage the unified entities of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, NASDA, and the National Aerospace Laboratory. Modeled on NASA but about one 10th of the size of its American counterpart, JAXA had 1,800 employees and an initial annual budget of US$1.66 billion. (Reuters, “Japan Streamlines Its Space Effort: Three Agencies Merged into JAXA; Tokyo Keeps Its Eye on Beijing,” 2 October 2003.
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