MEXSAT 3

MEXSAT 3 (NORAD catalog ID 39035, international designator 2012-075B) is a Mexican geostationary communications satellite that forms the backbone of the country's MEXSAT telecommunications network. Manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation and launched in December 2012, it was the first element of a three-satellite system designed to extend telecommunications services across Mexico and its surrounding regions. The satellite remains in orbit today, parked in a position above the equator from which it provides coverage in support of the broader network.

Mission and Purpose

MEXSAT 3 serves as a fixed satellite service node within the MEXSAT constellation, which was conceived as a national telecommunications infrastructure project overseen by what is today the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation. The constellation was designed to ensure that Mexico could maintain sovereign, reliable communications capacity across its territory—including remote and underserved regions where terrestrial infrastructure has historically been limited or absent.

Within the MEXSAT architecture, MEXSAT 3 plays a supporting role for the other two members of the network, MEXSAT-1 and MEXSAT-2, by providing fixed satellite services rather than the mobile satellite services those platforms emphasize. Fixed satellite services typically involve links to ground stations at established, stationary locations—such as broadcast relay points, government facilities, and trunk communication hubs—as opposed to mobile terminals carried by vehicles, vessels, or individuals in the field.

The satellite carries symbolic significance as well as functional importance. Known also by the name Bicentenario, it was named in commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of Mexican independence, making it not merely a piece of infrastructure but a marker of national identity embedded in orbit. The formal catalog also lists the alternate designation MEXSAT-3.

The specific details of the satellite's payload configuration and the precise nature of the telecommunications services it provides are not fully documented in publicly available catalogs, and the mission type and current operational status are recorded as unknown in international tracking databases. What is known is that the platform was purpose-built to serve national communications objectives at the time of its deployment.

Orbit and Tracking

MEXSAT 3 occupies a geostationary orbit, the ring of space approximately 35,786 kilometers above Earth's equator where a satellite's orbital period matches the rotational period of the Earth below. This synchronization causes the satellite to appear stationary when viewed from the ground—an essential property for communications systems that rely on fixed dish antennas pointed at a consistent location in the sky.

The satellite's tracked orbital parameters confirm its placement firmly within this band. Its apogee stands at 35,802 km and its perigee at 35,789 km, a difference of only 13 km that reflects a nearly circular orbit with minimal eccentricity. Its inclination is recorded at 0.0°, meaning the orbital plane is aligned essentially perfectly with Earth's equatorial plane—another hallmark of a well-maintained geostationary slot. The orbital period is 1,436.2 minutes, or just under 24 hours, in close agreement with the Earth's sidereal rotation period.

The satellite is positioned at 114.9° West longitude, a slot over the eastern Pacific Ocean that provides a favorable viewing angle across Mexico, Central America, and portions of the southern United States. Ground stations communicating with MEXSAT 3 in central Mexico would look toward the southwest to acquire the satellite's signal.

Because geostationary satellites do not move relative to the ground, they are not typically tracked in the same dynamic sense as low Earth orbit objects—they do not rise and set, and they do not pass overhead in a way that requires scheduling observation windows. MEXSAT 3 holds its position continuously, making ground-based antenna alignment a one-time alignment task rather than an ongoing tracking challenge. Nonetheless, its orbital elements are maintained in the international catalog under NORAD ID 39035, allowing its precise position to be monitored and verified.

Design and Operator

MEXSAT 3 was designed and built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, an American aerospace manufacturer with substantial heritage in commercial satellite construction and space launch systems. At the time of the satellite's manufacture, Orbital Sciences was known for producing mid-sized satellite platforms for commercial and government clients, and its work on MEXSAT 3 represented an export program serving a sovereign national operator. Orbital Sciences Corporation has since been integrated into Northrop Grumman following a corporate acquisition, though the satellite itself predates that transition.

The satellite has a launch mass of 3,050 kg, placing it in the category of medium to moderately large geostationary communications satellites. Geostationary platforms of this mass class typically carry substantial onboard propulsion for stationkeeping—the regular thruster firings necessary to counteract gravitational perturbations from the Moon, Sun, and the slightly non-spherical shape of Earth, all of which tend to nudge satellites away from their assigned slots over time.

The operating authority for MEXSAT 3 is Mexico's Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation, a federal ministry that oversees transport networks, communications infrastructure, and related public services. The ministry's control over the satellite reflects Mexico's policy of maintaining national ownership and management of its orbital assets, rather than relying solely on commercial or foreign-operated systems for critical telecommunications capacity.

The satellite was launched from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana—the primary launch facility of the European Space Agency and Arianespace, which is the most commonly used equatorial launch site for geostationary communications satellites. Launching from near the equator minimizes the energy required to reach a geostationary orbit, because a vehicle can take maximum advantage of Earth's rotational velocity. The launch took place on December 18, 2012, Eastern Standard Time (December 19 at the launch site, which operates on French Guiana local time).

Significance and Legacy

As the first satellite of the MEXSAT network to be placed in orbit, MEXSAT 3 represented a meaningful step in Mexico's effort to establish an independent national satellite infrastructure. The MEXSAT program was conceived in part as a response to the retirement of the earlier Morelos and Solidaridad satellite series, which had previously underpinned Mexico's satellite telecommunications capacity. The decision to develop a new constellation rather than rely on leased foreign capacity was a strategic one, intended to provide long-term sovereignty over critical communications services.

The symbolic dimension of the Bicentenario name should not be overlooked. Naming a national infrastructure satellite to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of a country's independence is an act of institutional expression—a statement that access to space and to modern communications is part of what it means to be a sovereign twenty-first-century nation. The choice reflects a broader trend among emerging space nations to use orbital assets as expressions of national capability and identity, not merely as functional tools.

Within the MEXSAT constellation, MEXSAT 3 operates in coordination with MEXSAT-1 and MEXSAT-2, which were designed to handle mobile satellite services—providing connectivity to aircraft, maritime vessels, emergency response teams, and mobile ground terminals. MEXSAT 3's fixed service role makes it the infrastructure anchor that supports those more dynamic services, handling high-capacity relay functions from fixed ground facilities.

The satellite remains in orbit as of the present date, with no decay or reentry event recorded. The long-term disposition of geostationary satellites after the end of their operational lives typically involves raising them into a higher "graveyard orbit" above the geostationary belt, clearing the valuable equatorial slot for future use. Whether MEXSAT 3 is currently operational, on standby, or in another status is not confirmed in public tracking data, and its mission status remains formally unrecorded in the catalog.

Despite the operational uncertainties in publicly available records, MEXSAT 3 continues to be tracked as an active cataloged object in the geostationary belt, maintaining the orbital position from which it was designed to serve Mexico's national communications interests. Its presence in orbit is a durable part of Mexico's space heritage and an artifact of the country's investment in telecommunications sovereignty during the early 2010s.