Intelsat 3R (formerly PAS-3R) is a communications satellite serving the Americas market.
Hughes Aircraft Corporation constructed the satellite based on the HS-601 satellite bus, having a mass at launch of 2,920 kg (6,440 lb), which decreased to around 1,727 kg (3,807 lb) when it was operational.
[3] Its two solar panels spanned 26 m (85 ft) and generated 4.7 kW of power when the spacecraft first entered service.
The power was expected to drop to around 4.3 kW by the end of the vehicle's operational life, i.e., 15 years.
The launch occurred on 12 January 1996 at 23:10:00 UTC from ELA-2 at the Centre Spatial Guyanais, at Kourou in French Guiana.