CNSA - China National Space Administration logo.
Dec. 20, 2011
China launched a massive Nigerian communications satellite Monday to link Africans with television programming, education services and navigation signals.
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Long March 3B rocket launch the Nigcomsat 1R
Liftoff occurred at about 16:41 GMT (11:41 a.m. EST) Monday, or just after midnight Beijing time on Tuesday.
Manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology, the Nigcomsat 1R satellite will replace a craft that lost power and failed in November 2008, less than 18 months after its launch on a Chinese rocket.
Long March 3B rocket launch
Nigcomsat Ltd., a company chartered by the Nigerian government, will operate the satellite for up to 15 years.
Nigcomsat 1R "will provide optimal and cost effective voice, data, video, Internet and application services solutions," the satellite's operator said.
Logo of the satellite on the rocket fairing
An 18-story Long March 3B rocket will streak into space from the Xichang launch base in Sichuan province in southwestern China.
The three-stage rocket, boosted off the launch pad by four strap-on engines, will reach orbit 10 minutes into the mission. The rocket's hydrogen-fueled third stage will ignite a second time to place Nigcomsat 1R in an an oval-shaped transfer orbit with a low point of 124 miles, a high point of 26,092 miles and an inclination of 24.8 degrees, according to China Great Wall Industry Corp., the state-owned commercial sales firm for the Long March rocket family.
Separation of the 11,243-pound satellite is scheduled less than 26 minutes after liftoff. Nigcomsat 1R will ultimately be positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the equator at 42.5 degrees east longitude.
Nigcomsat 1R satellite
Nigcomsat 1R is based on China's DFH-4 spacecraft platform. China has reached agreements to build DFH-4 communications satellites for several non-traditional players in the space industry, including Pakistan, Nigeria, Venezuela, Laos and Bolivia.
Nigcomsat 1R's communications package includes 28 active transponders and seven antennas reaching across sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Central Asia.
For more information about China National Space Administration (CNSA), visit: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html
Images, Video, Text, Credits: CNSA / CASC / CGWIC / ITN TV / AFP / Orbiter.ch.
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