DFH-4E Commercial GEO Satellite Platform
DFH Satellite Co., Ltd.
DFH Satellite's DFH-4E enhanced commercial GEO satellite platform — 6 kW payload power, 4,600 kg launch mass, 15-year design life, serving broadcast, broadband, and mobile communications.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Mass
- 4,600 kg
- Power
- 6,000 W
- Design life
- 15 years
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- Platform
- DFH-4E (enhanced commercial GEO bus)
- Payload Power
- 6 kW
- Transponder Capacity
- Up to 50 transponders (Ku-band or C-band)
- Launch Mass
- ~4,600 kg
- Design Life
- 15 years
- Propulsion
- Electric (Hall thrusters, N-S stationkeeping) + chemical (orbit raising)
- Export Customers
- Nigeria, Venezuela, Laos, Belarus, Pakistan
About
DFH Satellite Co., Ltd. (东方红卫星股份有限公司) is the commercial satellite manufacturing arm of CAST (China Academy of Space Technology), producing the Dongfanghong (DFH) series of satellite platforms for domestic and international commercial GEO satellite customers. The DFH-4E is the enhanced version of China’s standard commercial GEO satellite bus.
The DFH-4E platform provides 6 kW of payload power (up from 4.5 kW on the baseline DFH-4), accommodates up to 50 transponders for Ku-band or C-band communications, and is designed for 15-year operational life. The platform uses electric propulsion (xenon Hall thrusters) for North-South station-keeping and chemical propulsion (MMH/NTO bi-propellant) for orbit raising. Total launch mass is approximately 4,600 kg.
DFH satellites have been exported to multiple countries including Nigeria (NigComSat-1R), Venezuela (VRSS-1), Laos (LAOSAT-1), Belarus (BelInterSat-1), and Pakistan (PakSat-MM1). DFH Satellite also produces the DFH-5 bus (10+ kW payload, for next-generation broadband GEO satellites) and the DFH-3B platform for medium-capacity GEO satellites. The company is headquartered in Beijing, China.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.