Türksat 1C 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. Türksat 1C 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-44L H10-3 launch vehicle along with

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

n satellite Arabsat-2A in a dual-payload launch on July 9, 1996, 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 was built under the insurance terms of the turnkey system contract to replace the first Turkish satellite

Türksat 1A Türksat 1A 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. Turkey's first spacecr ...

, which was lost following a launch failure on January 24, 1994. The contract was modified so that the coverage area of Türksat 1C was enlarged by two big zones. Turksat 1C was successfully placed into

geostationary transfer orbit A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellite, Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous orbit, geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into ...

and positioned at 31.3°E on July 10, 1996. Completing the orbital tests, the satellite shifted to longitude 42°E. After this process, which took 17 days, the broadcast traffic of the

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 ...

was transferred to Türksat 1C. Finally, when these processes completed Türksat 1B was positioned at 31.3°E following similar orbital manoeuvres. Turksat 1C was designed for covering Turkey and Europe on west spot by vertical emission and Turkey and Central Asia on east spot by horizontal emission so as to serve simultaneously between Europe, Turkey and Central Asia, and to provide direct connection between Europe and Central Asia. It is based on the Aerospatiale

Spacebus 2000 Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and seventy-four have been launched since development started ...

series having an on-orbit mass of . The communications payload consists of 16 K_u band

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

s with eight

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...

, nine with 36Mhz, two with 54Mhz and five 72Mhz bandwidth. On July 16, 2008, all traffic on Turksat 1C was transferred to

Turksat 3A 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 ...

, which was launched on June 13, 2008 and its television broadcast was terminated on October 3, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turksat 1C Communications satellites of Turkey Spacecraft launched in 1996 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Derelict satellites orbiting Earth

Turksat 1C 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 ...

See also

References