PAN-1

Spacecraft nº:

US spacecraft nº:

Launch data:

PAN satellite - Photo: Lockheed Martin

Mission details:

• Thought to be a new generation military communications satellite. The operating agency was not announced.
• United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V 401, mission AV-018, from Cape Canaveral on Sep 8, 2009. It carried the PAN communications satllite to a 13544 x 35400 km x 23.1 deg geostationary transfer orbit. PAN/P360 is a Lockheed Martin A2100 satellite described as being for 'a US Government customer'. It seems that LM operates the satellite on behalf of the unidentified agency.
• The satellite has been given the US government designation USA 207, used for secret government-owned satellites, so it is probably not a contractor-owned leased-capacilty system like the Hughes Leasat satellites operated for the Navy in the 1980s (which did not get USA numbers).
• As first reported by spaceflightnow.com's Justin Ray, Ted Molczan suggests that PAN may be a satellite providing services for the CIA replacing channels hosted on the US Navy's UHF/EHF communications network, to bridge the gap between the old UHF Follow-On series and the planned MUOS system, and Greg Roberts has tracked a beacon signal from the satellite on a frequency used by the UHF Follow-On satellites.
• Based on information on nasaspaceflight.com, the orbital data were around 176 x 21761 km x 25.4 deg at MECO-1, 175 x 21622 km just before engine restart, and 7314 x 35400 km x 23.1 deg at spacecraft separation, which occurred about 17400 km over the Indian Ocean. First transfer orbit apogee was over the equator at 95E, at around 0420 UTC on Sep 9, 2009. On Sep 22, the spacecraft was in geostationary orbit over 34 deg E according to observations.