Launched by a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province in January 2023, APSTAR 6E took 514 days to transition from a low-Earth orbit, where it was deployed, to its designated geosynchronous orbit.

"The orbital transfer was realized by its electric propulsion systems," said the company, the overseas trading arm of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

As of Monday, all of the satellite's in-orbit tests had been completed and the results were reviewed and approved by an expert panel convened in Hong Kong on the day, the company said in a news release.

Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, a CASC subsidiary, APSTAR 6E is the first satellite based on the DFH-3E electric propulsion platform, designed for geosynchronous orbit operations.

A satellite platform serves as the foundational framework for assembling a satellite or satellite system according to its specific role and function. This includes universal components like a power source, propulsion, and orbital control devices, along with instruments tailored to the satellite's mission, allowing for streamlined configuration.

"With a liftoff weight of 4.3 metric tons, the APSTAR 6E carries 25 Ku-band transponders and three Ka-band gateway transponders that can provide a combined communication throughput of 30 gigabytes per second," according to Wang Min, the satellite's chief designer.

The primary mission of APSTAR 6E is to deliver high-throughput broadband communication services to Southeast Asian nations.

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