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Eutelsat Konnect is a
geostationary A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...
communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...
operated by
Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it has been the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Its subsidiary E ...
. The satellite was designed and manufactured by
Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...
on the Spacebus NEO 100 platform, and was launched on 16 January 2020 on an
Ariane 5 ECA Ariane 5 is a retired European Heavy-lift launch vehicle, heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver p ...
. The satellite provides
broadband internet In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide- bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Internet access. The transmission m ...
and communications coverage to
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and
Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
.


History

In October 2015, Eutelsat ordered a next-generation communications satellite originally named the African Broadband Satellite. The satellite was ordered as part of Eutelsat's move to expand in the African communications market. Thales Alenia Space contracted launch on an Ariane 5 ECA, co-manifested with another payload as is usual,
GSAT-30 GSAT-30 is a telecommunications satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Mission The satellite's main communication payload is 12 Ku band, Ku band transponders for covering Indian mainland and islands and 12 C ba ...
.


Spacecraft

Eutelsat Konnect is built on the Spacebus NEO 100 platform, an all-electric satellite bus designed with funding and support from the
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
(ESA) and French agency,
CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...
. In addition to providing more communications capacity, the new platform provided significant manufacturing cost reductions compared to previous
geostationary satellites A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitude ...
. Eutelsat Konnect carries a high-throughput
Ka-band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The designation "Ka-band" is from Kurz-above, which stems from the German word ''kurz,'' meaning "short". There ...
communications payload, providing 75  Gbps of capacity through 65 spot beams.


Launch

On 16 January 2020 at 21:05:00
UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
, Eutelsat Konnect was launched to on an
Ariane 5 ECA Ariane 5 is a retired European Heavy-lift launch vehicle, heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver p ...
. The launch was shared with
Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...
(ISRO) communications satellite
GSAT-30 GSAT-30 is a telecommunications satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Mission The satellite's main communication payload is 12 Ku band, Ku band transponders for covering Indian mainland and islands and 12 C ba ...
. Approximately 28 minutes after launch, Eutelsat Konnect separated from the
SYLDA Sylda is a village and a former municipality in the Mansfeld-Südharz district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Arnstein.geostationary transfer orbit In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...
(GTO).


References


External links

* {{official website, 1=https://europe.konnect.com/en-GB/ Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2020 Satellites of France Ariane commercial payloads