Intelsat V F-5 was a communications satellite operated by COMSAT. Launched in 1982, it was the fifth of fifteen Intelsat V satellites to be launched. The Intelsat V series was constructed by Ford Aerospace, based on the Intelsat Vsatellite bus. Intelsat V F-5 was part of an advanced series of satellites designed to provide greater telecommunications capacity for Intelsat's global network.
Satellite
The Intelsat V F-5 satellite was box-shaped, measuring 1.66 by 2.1 by 1.77 metres; solar arrays spanned 15.9 metres tip to tip. The arrays, supplemented by nickel-hydrogen batteries during eclipse, provided 1800 watts of power. The payload housed 21 C-band and 4 Ku-band transponders. It could accommodate 15,000 two-way voice circuits and two TV channels simultaneously. It had a launch mass of 1928 kg. It also carried a Maritime Communications Services (MCS) package for INMARSAT.[3] It cost $87 million (equivalent to $274,680,000 in 2023) and was the 32nd satellite launched by Intelsat.[4] The satellite was deactivated in August 1999.
Launch
The Intelsat V F-5 satellite was successfully launched into space on 28 September 1982 at 23:17:00 UTC, by means of an Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR vehicle from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, United States.[5] The launch was originally scheduled for the night of 23 September 1982 but was postponed to 28 October due to a power supply failure in another, identical, satellite.[6][7] It was launched on 28 September after engineers found the issue was not caused by a design flaw in the satellite.[7] The launch window was from 19:08–21:03 EST.[8]
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).