Doha: Eutelsat Communications and Es’hailSat have announced that their jointly owned Es’hail 1, launched on August 29, has reached geostationary orbit.
The satellite is undergoing a series of in-orbit tests managed by Eutelsat from its Rambouillet teleport near Paris and it is scheduled to begin service at 25.5 East by the end of October.
The sequence for release and deployment of solar arrays and communications antennas has been successfully completed by Space Systems/Loral, the satellite’s manufacturer, and the satellite’s payload was switched on September 8, Qatar News Agency reported yesterday.
Es’hail 1 is designed to serve broadcasters, businesses and public agencies in the Middle East, North Africa region and Central Asia though the capacity in the Ku and Ka-bands. It will replace the Eutelsat 25c satellite at the key 25.5 East position to provide superior geographic coverage and increased capacity to address dynamically expanding digital markets. The satellite will provide television, voice, Internet, corporate and government services.
Qatar’s first satellite is set to broadcast more than 30 high definition television and 70 standard definition television channels sometime after its launch. This will include Qatar TV, Al Jazeera channel, Al Rayyan TV and Al Kass sports channel among other channels.
The Qatar Satellite Company has set up Capacity Management Centre, which will manage access to the satellite. The centre will operate 24-hour to guarantee and coordinate the delivery of optimised services to customers, focusing on the interference mitigation and protection of signals. Es’hail 2 is under development and will be located at 26 degrees East TV broadcasting hotspot. The Peninsula & QNA
