Azerbaijan's first telecommunications satellite (Azerspace-1) launched to orbit this night at 1:36-2:20 Baku time from the Kourou spaceport (Guiana Space Centre), located in French Guiana.
Azerspace-1 manufactured by the US-based Orbital Sciences Corporation on a flight-proven GEO Star-2 platform and launched by the highly reliable Ariane-5 launch vehicle of the French Arianespace.
With an anticipated service life of 15 years, Azerspace/Africasat-1a is based on Orbital's flight-proven GEOStar-2 platform. The hybrid C- and Ku-band satellite will generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power and carry 36 active transponders, providing communications services to Azerbaijan, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia.
Azerspace/Africasat-1a will operate from an orbital location at 46 degrees East longitude through an arrangement between Azercosmos and MEASAT Satellite Systems of Malaysia, which owns the rights to the orbital slot.
Some 20% of satellite with the weight of 3.2 tons will be used to meet Azerbaijan’s demand, other 80% - for commercial purposes. Conditional contracts for utilization of 40% of the satellite have already been signed.
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APA