Türksat 1A was a Turkish

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

as part of a project to form an instant network with two

geosynchronous A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

satellites that is supervised by the companies Türksat A.Ş. in Turkey and

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...

of France. Turkey's first spacecraft in its space program, Türksat 1A was launched by

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy ...

atop an Ariane-44LP H10+ launch vehicle, along with the French satellite Eutelsat 2F5, in a dual-payload launch on January 24, 1994, at 21:37:00 UTC from

ELA-2 ELA-2, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2 ( French for Ariane Launch Area 2), was a launch pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. It was used by Arianespace for two Ariane 3 launches (V17 in 1986, V25 in 1988), the second Aria ...

at the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

Kourou Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. It failed to reach the orbit as it was lost by falling into ocean due to malfunction of the launch vehicle's last stage 12 minutes and 12 seconds after lift-off. After successful launching of

Türksat 1B Turksat 1B was a Turkish communications satellite as part of a project to form an instant network with two geosynchronous satellites that is supervised by the companies Türksat A.Ş. in Turkey and Aérospatiale of France. Türksat 1B was launch ...

the same year, Türksat 1A's mission was replaced by Türksat 1C, which was placed into orbit in 1996.

References

Spacecraft launched in 1994 Communications satellites of Turkey Satellite launch failures

Turksat 1A Turksat may refer to: * Türksat (company) Türksat Satellite Communications Cable TV and Operations Incorporated ( tr, Türksat Uydu Haberleşme Kablo TV ve İşletme A.Ş.) is the sole communications satellite operator in Turkey. It was esta ...

{{Turkey-spacecraft-stub, nocat=yes

See also

References