ABS-2A is an all-electric propulsion commercial

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 ...

which is owned and operated by ABS. Co-located with

ABS-2 ABS-2 is a Space Systems/Loral FS 1300 satellite launched in February 2014. It is positioned in geostationary orbit at 75E and serves four continents across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and CIS countries. The satellite ...

at the 75°E orbital position, the satellite provides coverage over markets in South East Asia, Africa, MENA and Russia. The satellite is equipped with 48 Ku-band transponder and is designed for DTH services, cellular backhaul, VSAT, maritime and mobility solutions.

Manufacture and specifications

The satellite was designed and manufactured by

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

, and is a Boeing 702SP model communication satellite. It was launched on board a SpaceX

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pay ...

rocket on 15 June 2016. The satellite lifted off as part of a dual launch and was the second deployment at 11:05am EDT. The satellite is propelled solely by electrically powered spacecraft xenon propulsion, with the on-board thrusters used for both geostationary orbit insertion and station keeping. The satellite utilizes five

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

beams and covers South East Asia, Africa, MENA and Russia.

Launch

The launch occurred on 15 June 2016 at 11.05am EDT and the satellite was deployed in the planned supersynchronous transfer orbit at 11:40am EDT.

On-orbit operations

The satellite became fully operational as a

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 ...

on 21 January 2017 after orbit raising and in-orbit tests by

and a handover from

to ABS for on-orbit operations.

References

SpaceX commercial payloads Spacecraft launched in 2016 {{communications-satellite-stub