HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY
Communications and Customer Relations
P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323)
Los Angeles, CA 90009
(310) 364-6363
www.hughespace.com		 HSC Logo

HUGHES RECEIVES ORDER FOR NEW SUPERBIRD SATELLITE (photo)

LOS ANGELES, April 7, 1998 -- Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc., and Space Communications Corporation (SCC) of Tokyo signed a contract yesterday for a new communications satellite that will begin serving Japan around the turn of the century. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The satellite is SUPERBIRD-4, and is the second spacecraft SCC has ordered from Hughes. It is a high-power HS 601 model set for launch in early 2000 on an Ariane rocket, and is expected to operate for more than 11 years from its orbital slot of 162 degrees East longitude.

This also marks the eighth satellite ordered from Hughes in 1998.

SUPERBIRD-4 will allow SCC to meet increasing demand for business telecommunications services throughout Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. In Ku-band, it will have 23 active transponders, powered by traveling-wave tubes of more than 80 watts. The satellite will also carry broadband and high-speed data services, via 6 transponders in Ka-band, powered by 50-watt TWTAs.

The spacecraft will have two main antennas, one for Ku-band and one for Ka-band, using Hughes' innovative shaped-beam technology. It also will have a steerable spot beam for Ku-band to increase service where needed.

SUPERBIRD-4 will have 5 kilowatts of spacecraft power and use Hughes' high-efficiency xenon ion propulsion system (XIPS). It is the 13th HS 601HP model ordered from Hughes, and the 9th HS 601 with XIPS. SUPERBIRD-C, Hughes' first spacecraft for SCC, was a standard HS 601 model that was launched last July.

Hughes built the world's first commercial satellite ion propulsion system, which was launched last August. XIPS, which is an option on the HS 601HP models, uses the impulse generated by a thruster ejecting electrically charged xenon particles, or ions, at very high velocities, resulting in a thrust efficiency 10 times greater than the chemical bipropellant systems currently in use.

The satellite will be built in the Los Angeles-area factory of Hughes Space and Communications Company (HSC), the world's leading manufacturer of geostationary commercial communications satellites. It also supplies spacecraft for communications to the U.S. government, and builds weather satellites for the United States and Japan. HSCI is an HSC subsidiary that markets satellites internationally, and holds contracts with a number of launch vehicle providers for delivery of customers' satellites on-orbit. HSC is a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.

###