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Saudi's Satellite Kicks off into Space from French Guiana


Wed 06 Feb 2019 | 11:32 AM
Ahmed Yasser

By: Ahmed Yasser

CAIRO, Feb.6. (SEE) –Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday, the launch of its first satellite for communications in a successful mission celebrated in both Riyadh and at the launch site in South America. The rocket carrying the Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1 ''SGS-1'' blasted into the skies in ''French Guiana'' on schedule at 9 p.m. GMT.

Satellite Kicks off into Space from French Guiana

The satellite ''SGS-1'' aims to employ advanced Ka-band capabilities to enable space communications at ultra fast speeds and will offer multiple applications including broadband telecommunications and secure communications for remote and disaster stricken areas as well as in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

The Saudi satellite was developed by a team from King Abd El- Aziz City for Science and Technology in collaboration with ''Lockheed Martin''. Hellas-Sat firm with the Saudi side will serve a subsidiary of Arabsat based in Riyadh.

first satellite for communications

The launch was carried out by ''Arianespace'' using the ''Ariane 5 rocket'', which also carried an Indian satellite into orbit, as well as the launch is particularly significant for ''Lockheed Martin'' as SaudiGeoSat-1 and ''Hellas Sat-4'' is the first commercial satellite to use the company’s modernized LM2100 platform.

first satellite for communications

''Guy Beutelschies'' Lockheed Martin’s vice president of commercial satellite solutions, reported that ''SaudiGeoSat-1 and ''Hellas Sat-4'' as the largest and most powerful commercial communications satellite that we’ve ever built.