usatoday24
Spain already has one of the most advanced communications satellites of the world. Run from the United States with a Spacex rocket, the Spainsat NG 1 positions Spain as one of the NATO members with the greatest operational capacity in sovereign communications. The secret is in their antennas.
The Spainsat Ng 1 communications satellite. The most advanced in Spain and the first in Europe with next -generation antennas. The spainsat Next Generation 1 was successfully deployed this morning to offer safe communications in government and military missions of the European Union, as well as its partners in the Atlantic Alliance.
The satellite meets NATO’s requirements For missions and deployments, and positions Spain among the most advanced countries in sovereign communications. Adaptable to critical and emergency response operations, it is planned to remain in service until 2037, covering North and South America, Africa and the Middle East, and part of Asia to Singapore.
Launch by Spacex. It is striking that a European military satellite is put into orbit by an American company. But it is not surprising, taking into account the multiple delays of Ariane 6: the only European rocket that could have launched the six -ton NG 1 spainsat.
He did it Instead a Falcon 9 of Spacex From Cabo Cañaveral. The rocket loaded with 450 tons of propellants took off from the 39A platform of the Kennedy Space Center at 1:37 UTC, taking advantage of the last drop of fuel to take the satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit. His first stage was discarded without landing after 21 successful pitches, including the Japanese lunar mission Hakuto-R and the deployment of 400 Starlink satellites.
Deployment in geostationary orbit. After separating from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, the satellite undertook a solo trip until its final position in geostationary orbit, 35,786 km on the earth, a height of almost three times the diameter of the earth itself.
The Spainsat NG 1 will undergo a series of commissioning tests before entering operation. The Spanish company Hisdesat will be in charge of its operations During the next 15 years, with the support of the Department of Connectivity and Safe Communications of ESA.
What makes it so special. The 6.1 tons satellite, the size of a minibus, carries X Band Antennas with Beam Hopping technology, which means that they can modify the communications beam to different regions or users electronically, without moving.
The antennas were developed by Airbus Defense and Space in Barajas, but A consortium of Spanish companies participated In the design and development of the satellite: Sener, Indra, Technobit, Arquimea, GMV and the Hisdesat itself. This industrial and institutional collaboration is included in the Pacis 3 project, which is in turn part of the Spainsat Next Generation program of Hisdesat, with an expected fleet of two satellites based on EUROPAR NEO DE AIRBUS technology.
Images | ESA, Spacex
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings