Stamp Profile

Space

Tonga

Issue Date: 07/07/2000

Designer: Dave Gunson, Auckland, New Zealand

Timed to coincide with the Stamp Show 2000 in Anaheim, California on 7 July 2000, the Kingdom of Tonga released a stunning miniature sheet and issue of four stamps to highlight their involvement in the Space programme.

Tongasat is a Tonga-based company, set up in 1987 and owned by several principals including Her Royal Highness, Princess Salote Pilolevu Tuita. It controls the geostationary orbital slots that have been allocated by the International Telecommunications Union and provides financial contributions to the Government of Tonga. Four of Tongasat's seven slots are currently occupied, two by Intersputnik and two by Apstar and the two satellites that have been launched to fill these slots feature on the stamps.

10 seneti stamp:
The Proton RU 500 launch vehicle for the Gorizont satellite. The launch vehicle is made up of 4 stages and was originally developed to fly by the moon with a manned capsule.

$1.00 stamp:
The Long March 3 launch vehicle sending the Apstar1 satellite into space. The LM3 vehicle was designed and built in China and launched via the China Great Wall Industry Corporation.

$2.50 stamp:
Apstar 1 communication satellite at 138 degrees East. Built by Hughes Space and Communications, this satellite was launched in 1994 and provides communications over the area footprint bounded in the north by North and South Korea; south by Indonesia; east by Japan; and west by part of Russia.

$2.70 stamp:
The Russian-built, Lockheed Martin-leased Gorizont satellite, one of two in Tongasat orbital slots that are used for fixed satellite service. Their power parameters make it possible to retransmit television and radio programs, voice, fax, telex messages and data.

$5.20 miniature sheet:
Featuring both satellites described above and carries the Anaheim logo. This stunning trapezoid-shaped sheet shows the stamps within the solar system, and the sheet is enhanced with silver foil for text, stars and within the stamps themselves.

©Info by New Zealand Post

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Space and Communications Stamp Issue

Vanuatu

Issue Date: 21/06/2000

Designer: Dave Gunson, Auckland, New Zealand

The republic of Vanuatu utilises a modern satellite communications network through INTELSAT 802 at 174 degrees East. This service is provided by INTELSAT, a government-to-government worldwide recognised organization based in Washington DC.

This service to the Pacific region allows Vanuatu vastly improved communications both internationally and locally. In addition vital access is possible regardless of weather conditions, in business, education, aviation, shipping, weather and international resource libraries.

10 vatu stamp Launch Vehicle:
This stamp shows the launch of the Ariane 44LP rocket transporting its precious payload, Intelsat satellite 802 to its orbital slot at 174 degrees east from where it services the Western Pacific. The rocket is seen accelerating away from the launch platform gantry at the Euro Space Port at Kourou in French Guiana.

34 vatu stamp Earth Station:
The earth station situated over the harbour of Port Vila dominates this stamp, which includes the islands of Iririki and Ifira. This station is part of the network that enables communications to be carried out from Torres in the north to Aneityum in the south, a spread of some 700 kilometres.

 

100 vatu Intelsat 802:
The deployed satellite is seen over the archipelago of Vanuatu. The importance of providing a fully digitalised network that operates efficiently in extreme weather conditions is vital.

225 vatu stamp Communications:
his image illustrates the communication systems of the past as well as the present. The stamp contrasts the village communication via the29/08/06 which communicates to the world village.

©Info by New Zealand Post

 

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