Optimized Direct-to-Home Communications for Asia

ProtoStar Ltd. of Bermuda, chose Boeing, the world's leading manufacturer of government and commercial communications satellites to expand its constellation of spacecraft with a 601HP satellite. IndoStar II/ProtoStar II will provide robust direct-to-home (DTH) and other telecommunications services including broadband Internet throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The IndoStar II/ProtoStar II satellite will feature high-powered transponders and will significantly expand ProtoStar's capacity.

The Boeing-built 601HP spacecraft is the most powerful satellite to join the ProtoStar fleet with nearly 10 kilowatts of power at beginning of life.

IndoStar II/ProtoStar II was launched into the orbital slot of 107.7 degrees East longitude on May 16, 2009, on a Proton Breeze M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Kazakhstan. IndoStar II/ProtoStar II will use 10 active and three spare S-band Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers to provide DTH broadcasting across Indonesia.

Boeing will integrate technology that will allow ProtoStar to broadcast a Ku-band system for DTH and other telecommunications services across India. A second Ku-band payload that can be switched between the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia will provide broadband Internet access and other telecommunication services.

In 1987, Boeing introduced the 601 to meet anticipated requirements for high-power, multiple-payload satellites for such applications as direct television broadcasting to small receiving antennas, very small aperture terminals for private business networks, and mobile communications.

A more powerful version, the Boeing 601HP, made its debut in 1995. The HP versions can carry payloads twice as powerful as the classic Boeing 601 models, through such innovations as gallium arsenide solar cells and advanced battery technology. The 601HP features as many as 60 transponders and provides up to 11,000 watts of electrical power.