Turkey's new satellite "Turksat 3A" put into orbit

An Ariane-5 rocket, blasted off from Europe's space base in Kourou in French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America, put a Turkish telecommunications satellite into orbit.  Â

The satellite will be located in the orbit of "42 degree east". The control of the satellite will be pursued in the Golbasi Satellite Ground Station near Ankara.

Based on Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000B2, Turksat 3A will be fitted with 24 Ku-band transponders and will offer beginning of life power of about 8 kW. Positioned at 42°E, Turksat 3A will weight 3,060 kg at launch and will replace Turksat 1C satellite. The Turksat 3A has 3 uplink and 2 downlink beams.

Turksat 3A satellite will enable Turksat to offer telecommunication services as well as direct TV broadcasting services in a broader area than its existing coverage, including Turkey, Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

With the help of its switchable transponders, Turksat 3A will act as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Turksat 3A's Turkey coverage has been specially designed to provide very efficient gain for broadband applications like VSAT services giving customers low-cost, up-link systems.

Its lifetime is nearly 20 years.

After "Turksat 3A" was launched, Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters the satellite would contribute to information and communication technology, the Anatolian Agency reported.

Yildirim said more than 25 engineers from Turkey took part in the project.

The rocket also released a Skynet 5C satellite for Britain's Defense Ministry five minutes earlier than Turksat 3A.

Thursday's launch was the 25th consecutive successful mission by Ariane-5 rockets, Arianespace President Jean-Yves Le Gall told Reuters.

"In our commercial strategy this is very important," Le Gall said.

Arianespace, 30 percent owned by EADS, plans to launch Russian Soyuz rockets from 2009 in an effort to maintain its lead in the commercial satellite launch market.

Billed as a cost effective launcher for large satellites, the Ariane-5 is capable of launching payloads of up to 10 tons

Photo: AP