20 Jun 2016

Double telecommunication satellite launch breaks payload world record

The Ariane 5 launcher, specialised in sending heavy payloads into the Earth's orbit, has broken its own record by launching two telecommunication satellites, together weighing almost 11 tonnes, out of the Earth’s gravitational field.

The Echostar 18 and BRISAT satellite launch, which will enable the broadcasting television signals, transmitting of telephone, internet data and meteorology, equated to a total of 10.730 tonnes and was propelled into space from the European spaceport in Kourou – a new record for the European launcher.

The two satellites were precisely placed in a ‘transfer’ orbit, reaching a geostationary orbit using on-board propulsion systems. In this orbit, 36,000 km above the Earth, the satellites move at a speed with which they can follow the planet’s rotation exactly to enable a constant watch on the same point of the Earth and cover an area that corresponds to a third of the planet.

BRIsat is the first satellite dedicated to a financial institution and will provide both C-band and Ku-band coverage of Indonesia and South East Asia. EchoStar XVIII – based on the 1300 satellite bus produced by SSL – is the mission’s upper passenger, and it is to be orbited for operator DISH Network L.L.C. The spacecraft features a high-power multi-spot beam in the Ku-band to assure an ongoing service to DISH customers in the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Cuba.