Superbird 7

According to its operator, Space Communications Corporation, the deployment of Superbird 7 (to be called Superbird-C2 after launch) marks the first time a satellite operator in Japan has used a commercial satellite that was made in Japan. Superbird-C2 was manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation based on the DS2000 satellite bus. [cite web |url=http://www.superbird.co.jp/english/press/news08_5.pdf |title=SCC Announces Launch Schedule for Superbird-7 |publisher=SCC |date=2008-07-17]

Superbird 7 was launched 2008-08-14 by an Ariane 5 carrier rocket. [cite web |url=http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/releases/08_08_14_release_index.html |title=Another successful Arianespace launch: Superbird-7 and AMC-21 in orbit |publisher=Arianespace] It has a mass of convert|5|t|lb at launch and a design life of more than 15 years. [cite web |url=http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/bu/space/satellite/communication/superbird_c2_7.html |title=SUPERBIRD-C2 (7) |publisher=Mitsubishi Electric Corporation |date=2008]

DS2000 satellite bus

Other satellites with the DS2000 bus are the DRTS Kodama data relay satellite, MTSAT-2 for weather observations and the ETS-VIII experimantal communication satellite.fact |date=August 2008

References