SpaceX - Falcon 9 / Nilesat 301 Mission patch.
June 9, 2022
Falcon 9 carrying Nilesat 301 liftoff
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Nilesat 301 communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, on 8 June 2022, at 21:04 UTC (17:04 EDT).
Falcon 9 launches Nilesat 301 and Falcon 9 first stage landing
Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Falcon 9’s first stage (B1062) previously supported six missions: GPS III SV04, GPS III SV05, Inspiration4, Axiom-1 and two Starlink missions.
The NILESAT-301 telecommunications satellite, manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), for the Egyptian operator NILESAT, was successfully launched today from the Space Center Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Thanks to the power of its Ku band, NILESAT-301 will strengthen NILESAT's commercial leadership in broadcasting services from the 7° West orbital position, not only to cover the Middle East and North Africa region, but also to incorporate new services in southern Africa and in the Nile basin. Additionally, a new generation Ka-band multibeam payload will facilitate this operator's entry into the high-speed connectivity market throughout Egypt.
Nilesat 301 telecommunications satellite
Thales Alenia Space, as prime contractor for the satellite, was in charge of the design, production, ground testing and in-orbit acceptance testing of the satellite. NILESAT will also benefit from the new control centers inaugurated in Cairo and Alexandria, which are already operating to control the NILESAT-201 satellite in its orbit.
The nominal useful life of the new satellite, built on the Spacebus 4000-B2 platform with a mass of about 4 tons at liftoff, will be more than 15 years. After NILESAT-201, NILESAT-301 is the second geostationary telecommunications satellite manufactured by Thales Alenia Space for NILESAT. Likewise, it is the fourth payload developed by Thales Alenia Space for this operator.
SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/
Thales Alenia Space: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/global/activities/space
Images, Video, Text, Credits: SpaceX/Thales Alenia Space/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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