Express-AM3

[hvdh]

Express-AM3 was launched in June 2005, three months after the identical Express-AM2 that was retired in 2016 already.
Planned lifetime of both was 12 years.

It seems AM3 is not planned to retire just yet.
Originally located at 140°E, then to 80°E since June 2014, and inclining since April 2018.
Left 80°E in December 2020, and is now slowing down. Inclination is 2.3°.
The satellite may be approaching 23.0°E, to reserve a Russian slot listed at ITU.
Payload both in C- and Ku-band.
Beacons listed at Frequencyplansatellites: 3405,08 R (Global or Omni) / 3800,00 R (Global) / 11200,00 R (Global).

 

[Marcus_21]

It is located at about 23°E... but the beacons on station are still off (3800,00 R and 11200,00 R), we'll see if they turn them on.
only telemetry on frequency 3405,08 R is active.



However it was at 103°E (after it had been replaced by the Express AM5 at 140°E). It seems to me that it was never at 80°E

 

[hvdh]

Indeed @Marcus_21 my mistake, it should have been "103°E since June 2014". Must have had the two new Express satellites in mind...

Yesterday at about 19:00 UTC a carrier at 23°E was seen with Crazyscan on 11198 H, it was gone an hour later.
I will try again this evening, to see if it appears again or was just a fluke.

 

[Marcus_21]

Maybe they turned on the beacon temporarily?

Until the on-station beacons turn on, there will hardly be any transmissions ... Unless you use the telemetry beacon, which is used to align the antennas to transmit commands.

 

[hvdh]

OK @Marcus_21 , I know already what this 11198 H is, it's from Astra 2C at 23.7°E.
Though checking your beacon list yesterday, I overlooked 11197 H listed for Astra 2C.

Too bad, there is an outage of fresh TLE's today, but I'm pretty confident your observation at 23°E is correct!

My guess is that RSCC is only interested in future C-band at this slot, conveniently between existing 20°E and 26°E satellites.
Does the ITU documentation confirm that?

 

[Marcus_21]

In IFIC-2939, the request for renewal of the ENSAT-23E concession for Angosat was published. Where the Espress AM3 is mentioned, besides Angosat 1 and 2 (frequency range 3400~3410, 3500~4200, 5725~6425, 10950~11200 and 14000~14250 MHz)

Maybe the Angosat 2 satellite will go to 23°E?

 

[Analoguesat]

Maybe the Angosat 2 satellite will go to 23°E?

Lets hope they dont lose this one.....