Regional African Satellite Communication Organization
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The Regional African Satellite Communication Organization (RASCOM) will provide telecommunication services, direct TV broadcast services and Internet access in rural areas of Africa. Under an agreement with RASCOM, RascomStar-QAF (a private company registered in Mauritius) will implement RASCOM's first communications satellite project. This joint African project is expected to lower the continent's dependency on international satellite networks such as Intelsat.
[edit] RASCOM-QAF1
RASCOM-QAF1 is the first satellite entirely dedicated to the African continent. Thales Alenia Space built the satellite in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, France. The company has delivered the satellite in-orbit, and will supply the ground infrastructure needed to operate it. The spacecraft is based on the Spacebus 4000B3 platform, with a payload of twelve Ku-band transponders and eight C-band transponders. It weighed about 3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb) at launch.
Launch aboard an Ariane 5GS rocket took place on 2007-12-21.[1] On 2007-12-29 Thales Alenia Space announced that a helium leak aboard the spacecraft would delay its activation.[2] On 2008-01-08 the company announced the perigee of the satellite's orbit would be raised, and also acknowledged that if the satellite eventually reached geostationary orbit its useful lifetime would be significantly reduced.[3] On 2008-02-04 Thales Alenia Space announced the satellite had reached its intended geostationary orbit at 2.85° East. They expect its lifetime to be slightly over 2 years.[4]
[edit] References
- Arianespace to launch pan-African satellite Rascom 1. Arianespace (June 21, 2007).
- Transfer of the pan African satellite Rascom-QAF1 to its launch site in French Guiana. Thales Alenia Space (November 5, 2007).
- Arianespace launch with HORIZONS-2 and RASCOM-QAF1. Arianespace.
- ^ Sixth successful Arianespace mission in 2007: RASCOM-QAF1 and Horizons-2 in orbit. Arianespace.
- ^ RASCOM-QAF1’s Launch Early Operation Procedures have been stopped. Thales Alenia Space.
- ^ New step in RASCOM-QAF1's Launch Early Operation Procedures. Thales Alenia Space.
- ^ RASCOM-QAF1 satellite injected in final geostationary orbit. Thales Alenia Space.
[edit] External links
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