AsiaSat 7 is a Hong Kong communications satellite, which is operated by the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat). It is positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 105° East of the Greenwich Meridian, where it serves as a back-up for the AsiaSat 5 satellite and replaced AsiaSat 3S. It is used to provide fixed satellite services, including broadcasting, telephone and broadband very small aperture terminal (VSAT) communications, to Asia and the Pacific Ocean region. Satellite description Space Systems/Loral and AsiaSat announced in May 2009, that it has been chosen to provide a new communications satellite, named AsiaSat 5C. In early 2010, the satellite was renamed AsiaSat 7. At launch, AsiaSat 7 had a mass of , and was expected to operate for fifteen years. It carries 26 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders. Launch AsiaSat 7 was built by Space Systems/Loral, and is based on the LS-1300 satellite bus. It is being launched by International Launch Services (ILS), using a Proton-M launch vehicle with a Briz-M upper stage. The launch was conducted from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 19:10:34 UTC on 25 November 2011. The Briz-M separated from the Proton-M nine minutes and forty-one seconds into the flight, and AsiaSat 7 separated from the Briz-M into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) nine hours and thirteen minutes after liftoff. It then raises itself into its final geostationary orbit. See also AsiaSat 6 References Spacecraft launched in 2011 AsiaSat satellites Satellites using the SSL 1300 bus