A satellite destined to provide communications for Asia has its antennas pointed in wrong directions, a space industry Web site reported Thursday.
The PanAmSat PAS 8 is one of four craft in PanAmSat's 18-satellite fleet that serves the Asian market. The company launched the bird on 4 November from the Baikonur military base in Kazakhstan.
PanAmSat is a global satellite communications provider that is 81 percent owned by Hughes Electronics.
The PAS 8 satellite provides video broadcast and telecom services to business customers, and does some radio transmission, a PanAmSat spokeswoman said.
She did not have information about when the satellite would be repaired, or what services would be affected.
The satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. Both Hughes and Loral are currently under investigation by the Justice Department and two congressional committees for their role in transferring technology to the Chinese after they lost satellites in two Chinese rocket explosions.
