Türksat 4B is 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 ...
, operated by
Türksat.
Overview
According to the in-orbit delivery contract signed in early 2011,
Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) of Japan was in charge of the construction of the
satellite's base MELCO DS2000,
and the American-Russian joint-venture company
International Launch Services
International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) is a joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Angara and Proton rocket launch services. Proton launches take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan while Angara is l ...
(ILS) provided the launch of the spacecraft atop a Russian
Proton-M
The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...
space launch vehicle from
Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
scheduled in
late 2014. In the scope of the contract, Turkish engineers collaborated in the production of the satellite.
The production of Türksat 4B at the Mitsubishi Electric Facility in
Kamakura was completed in June 2014.
Türksat 4B is part of the
Turksat series of satellites, and is placed in
geosynchronous orbit at
50°E to provide telecommunication and direct TV broadcasting services over a wide geographic region between west of China and east of England spanning Turkey, as well as Europe,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
Türksat 4B has a mass of approximately and an expected on-orbit life time of 15 years.
and Türksat 4B are projected to enable a capacity increase because the satellites currently in service, namely
Türksat 2A and
Türksat 3A, are at 90% occupied.
Control of UAV's by SATCOM
The
Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...
has dedicated channels on the Turksat 4B for use in guidance of it
SATCOM equipped Anka-S
UCAV
An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...
systems.
Launch
The spacecraft was launched by the American-Russian joint-venture company
International Launch Services
International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) is a joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Angara and Proton rocket launch services. Proton launches take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan while Angara is l ...
(ILS) atop a Russian
Proton-M
The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...
space launch vehicle on October 16, 2015, at 20:40:00 from
Baikonur Cosmodrome Pad 39 in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
.
After successfully completing the testing process, the satellite was placed on its final orbit on October 24, 2015.
Features
Türksat 4B provides expansion of
Ka band's 3-
Gbps data transfer capacity at spot coverage areas through its 1,800 MHz bandwidth in total. A total of 792 MHz communication capacity is secured by 18
transponder
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...
s of the
Ku band.
See also
*