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Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a Enters Full Commercial Service

By Veronica Magan | April 5, 2013
[Satellite TODAY 04-05-13] Azercosmos and MEASAT have announced that the Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a satellite has successfully completed in-orbit testing and entered full commercial service. The spacecraft, launched on Feb. 7 on board Arianespace’s Ariane 5 vehicle, will provide communications services to customers in Azerbaijan, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. The satellite provides Ku-band capacity over Europe and Central Asia, and C- band capacity over Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
 

    The Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a is based on Orbital’s GEOStar-2 platform with an expected service life of more than 15 years. It generates approximately 5 kilowatts of payload power, carries 36 active transponders, and it operates from the 46 degrees east longitude orbital location through an arrangement between Azercosmos and MEASAT, which holds the rights to the orbital slot.