Galaxy 8i

 1997-078A

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Panamsat's Galaxy 8i is dedicated to Galaxy Latin America (San Jose, Costa Rica) for DirecTV service to Latin America. Launch was by Atlas IIAS in 1997 into a supersynchronous transfer orbit. Mass of the HS-601HP was 3558 kg. Galaxy 8i is the first satellite to use the XIPS Xe ion propulsion system for all attitude control and stationkeeping; earlier flights used it for E/W stationkeeping only. Galaxy 8i carried less fuel than usual, increasing the dry payload mass. It was colocated with Galaxy 3-R at 95E. In Apr 1998 the DirecTV service was transferred from 3-R to 8-i.

In Sep 2000 the XIPS system seized up from contamination and the backup AOCS system was used. 8i was retired from primary service but used as an orbital spare for several years,even occasionally being loaned to NASA.

Galaxy 8i
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1997 Dec 8	2352	Launch by Atlas 2AS AC-149	CC LC36B
		T+0:54 SRB-3,4 burn
		T+1:09 SRB-1,2 sep
		T+1:57 SRB-3,4 sep
		T+2:44 BECO
		T+2:47 Booster sep
		T+3:30 Fairing sep
		T+4:50 SECO
		T+4:52 Atlas sep
		T+5:09 MES 1
1997 Dec 9
	0001	T+9:42 Centaur MECO-1	160? x 200? x 28.5?
	0016	T+24:36 MES 2
	0018	T+26:15 Centaur MECO-2	157? x 50484 x 27.0
	0021	T+29:01 Centaur sep
1997 Dec 11			938.90 333 x 50434 x 26.70
1997 Dec 13	2130?	LAM-1
1997 Dec 14			1372.30 18703 x 50353 x 5.4
1997 Dec 16	1820?	LAM-2
1997 Dec 16			1698.78 31218 x 50347 x 1.8
1997 Dec 18?		LAM-3
1997 Dec 21?		LAM-4
1997 Dec 21			1520.72 35773 x 39081 x 0.2
1997 Dec 22	1400?	LAM-5
1997 Dec 24			1437.58 35789 x 35842 x 0.1 GEO 79.0W+0.3W
1997 Dec 29			1436.16 35779 x 35796 x 0.0 GEO 79.1W
1998 Jan 27			1436.25 35787 x 35792 x 0.2 GEO 80.1W
1998 Feb 1		move out	1439.15 35786 x 35905 x 0.2 GEO 83.9W+0.7W
1998 Feb 28			1436.16 35781 x 35793 x 0.1 GEO 95.0W
1998 Apr		GLA DirecTV transferred from G3R
1999 Oct 14			1436.12 35782 x 35791 x 0.0 GEO 94.9W
2002 Sep 17			1436.10 35774 x 35798 x 0.0 GEO 95.0W
2003 Jul 6			1436.12 35775 x 35797 x 0.7 GEO 95.0W
2004 Jan 14			1436.12 35767 x 35806 x 1.2 GEO 94.9W