China Sri Lanka East Asia South Asia Middle East Africa Australia China sea area the Indian Ocean region.
The ChinaSat 12 (Chinese: 中星12号; pinyin: Zhōngxīng 12)[4][5][3][6] communications satellite is wholly owned by China Satellite Communications, with part of its communications payload leased or rented by SupremeSAT, a Sri Lankan company, to be marketed to potential users as SupremeSAT-I.[7] Once operational, it will provide communications services for the China, Sri Lanka, East Asia, South Asia, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and China sea area, the Indian Ocean region.[8]
ChinaSat 12 was also known as Apstar 7B (as a backup of Apstar 7), but acquired by China Satellite Communications from its subsidiary APT Satellite Holdings in 2010.[9] However, APT Satellite Holdings was contracted by its parent company as the operator of ChinaSat 12.[9]
Following launch on 27 November 2012,[10] the satellite was placed into geosynchronous orbit and located at 51.5° East while being tested. On April 19, 2013, it started to move towards its operational location at 87.5° East.[citation needed]
The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space and has a designed life of 15 years.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
