Turkmenistan's first satellite
TurkmenAlem 52°E / MonacoSAT
[3]
is a communications
satellite
operated by
Turkmenistan National Space Agency
,
[4]
built by
Thales Alenia Space
in the
Cannes Mandelieu Space Center
in France. Launched from
Cape Canaveral
on 27 April 2015 aboard a
Falcon 9 v1.1
rocket, the satellite operates at 52°E in the
geostationary orbit
and has an anticipated service life of 15 years.
[1]
The position is controlled by the
Principality of Monaco
and the satellite includes 12
transponders
that are referred to and commercialised as MonacoSAT as well as the 26 transponders referred to as TurkmenAlem.
[3]
Wide Network Solutions is the satellite's biggest commercial operator.
History
[
edit
]
In 2009, Space Systems International - Monaco (SSI-Monaco) signed a license agreement with the Monaco government for the development and use of the 52°E orbital position for the MonacoSAT project. In November 2011, the
Turkmenistan Ministry of Communications
signed agreements with Thales Alenia Space to build the first TurkmenSpace satellite of the Turkmenistan NSSC (National System of Satellite Communications) programme, and with SSI-Monaco to use the 52°E position, including the right for SSI-Monaco to use 12 Ku-band transponders on the satellite as MonacoSAT. In July 2013, global satellite operator
SES
and SSI-Monaco signed an agreement for SES to commercialise the 12 MonacoSAT transponders and integrate MonacoSAT into the SES fleet.
[5]
The satellite was originally intended to be launched on a Chinese
Long March 3B
rocket but
International Traffic in Arms Regulations
prevented some US made parts being exported to China for the launch, and so in June 2013 it was switched to a
SpaceX
Falcon 9 v1.1
launcher,
[6]
and planned for late 2014/early 2015.
[7]
The launch was initially scheduled for 21 March 2015 but this was delayed to study a problem with a helium pressurisation system on the Falcon 9 rocket, and a new launch date was set for no earlier than 24 April 2015.
[8]
[9]
SpaceX clarified the reason for the delay: "the issue wasn’t with the [helium] bottles themselves, but rather other bottles from a similar lot that failed testing at the company’s assembly plant. We identified a potential condition that could be shared with those on board the Thales vehicle."
[8]
The subsequent launch on 27 April 2015 successfully positioned the satellite at 52°E.
Formerly referred to as
TurkmenSat 1
,
[10]
it was
Turkmenistan
's first official satellite.
[11]
Coverage
[
edit
]
The TurkmenAlem 52°E / MonacoSAT satellite has 38 Ku-band transponders providing coverage in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia
[11]
with three
downlink
beams:
[12]
- The West beam is centred on Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with 53
dbW
power providing reception on dishes down to about 50 cm. The beam extends at lower powers north east across Russia, north across Scandinavia to
Svalbard
and west across Europe to the Atlantic with a second high power lobe over France and southern UK.
- The East beam is also centred on Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with a slightly reduced power (52 dBW) and extends west across central and northern Europe with a second 52 dBW lobe over north west France.
- The MENA beam is centred on the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa (Libya) with a maximum power of 51 dBW, and extends as far south as Sudan and Ethiopia.
MonacoSAT
[
edit
]
The MonacoSAT payload of 12 Ku-band transponders commercialised by SES provides capacity for
DTH
broadcasting over the Middle East and North Africa, in addition to resources for trunking and data services in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. In particular, MonacoSAT provides growth potential for the Abu Dhabi-based
Yahsat
and SES joint venture bouquet YahLive, additional to the broadcasts from YahSat 1A at the adjacent orbital position of 52.5°E.
[13]
The sole and only commercialisation of this satellite is by Wide Network Solutions.
WNS
is the only and most active provider in Persian market for this satellite
[1]
Archived
22 June 2021 at the
Wayback Machine
Freq
[
edit
]
- H_10804_27500
- V_10845_27500
- V_10887_27500
- V_11221_27500
- V_12226_28000
- V_12265_27500
- V_12303_27500
- V_12341_28000
- V_12380_28000
- H_12437_27500
- H_12476_27500
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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January
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February
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March
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April
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May
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- Mexsat-1
- USA-261
/
X-37 OTV-4
,
LightSail-1
,
USS Langley
,
BRICSat-P
,
ParkinsonSat
,
GEARRS-2
,
AeroCube
8A, 8B,
OptiCube
1, 2, 3
- DirecTV-15
,
SKY Mexico
-1
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June
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July
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August
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September
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October
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November
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December
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Launches are separated by dots ( ? ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ).
Crewed flights
are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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