The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and ProtoStar Ltd. both indicated the IndoStar II/ProtoStar II satellite is healthy and operating normally following the successful acquisition of the spacecraft’s first on-orbit signals.

The new satellite will double ProtoStar’s existing capacity and provide direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting and telecommunications services to millions of households across Indonesia, India, the Philippines and Taiwan. IndoStar II/ProtoStar II launched at 5:57 p.m. Pacific time on May 15th on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Kazakhstan. The ground station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa, reported signal acquisition nine hours and 57 minutes later at 3:54 a.m. Pacific time on May 16th.

With nearly 10,000 watts of communications power, IndoStar II/ProtoStar II’s high-powered S- and Ku-band payload will provide up to 500 direct-to-home channels throughout Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The advanced payload includes Ku-band coverage that also can be switched between the Philippines, Taiwan, and Indonesia to add additional, high-power capacity for DTH and broadband Internet service. Boeing built the 601HP-model satellite at its manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif., which encompasses 1 million square feet of assembly, integration and test facilities. ProtoStar Ltd., a Bermuda company with subsidiaries in Bermuda, San Francisco, California, and Singapore, was formed to acquire and operate high-power geostationary satellites optimized for DTH satellite television, broadband Internet, and GSM cellular backhaul service providers across the Asia-Pacific region. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems specializes in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions and is headquartered in St. Louis.