# Telstar 4 a total loss!



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Loral Skynet made it official late Monday afternoon - the company has been unable to re-establish contact with its Telstar 4 satellite and has declared the spacecraft a total loss.

As previously reported, Telstar 4 experienced a short circuit of its primary power bus Friday. When it failed, Loral Skynet transitioned nearly all Telstar 4 customers to its Telstar 5, Telstar 6 and Telstar 7 satellites.

The satellite operating unit of Loral Space and Communications said it's working with satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin to identify the cause of the problem. Telstar 4 is insured for $141 million.

Loral Space and Communications, which is in bankruptcy proceedings, has an agreement to sell six North American satellites in the Loral Skynet fleet to Intelsat. With the Telstar 4 failure, the purchase price will be reduced by any insurance proceeds received, the company said.

Loral said it expects to complete the Intelsat sale in a timely manner. While Loral has an agreement with Intelsat for the sale of North American satellites, EchoStar also has been eyeing the assets.

As previously planned, Loral will replace Telstar 4 at 89 degrees in mid-2004 with Telstar 8, which is under construction at Space Systems/Loral. Telstar 8 carries a Ka-Band payload, in addition to C-Band and Ku-Band, the company said.

From http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)


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