The Sky Muster satellites are two
geostationary (GEO)
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 ...
s operated by
NBN Co Limited and built by
SSL. They were launched in 2015 and 2016 to provide fast broadband in areas where NBN didn't want to either lay fiber or install enough wireless antennas and offshore. They provide download speeds of up to 25 Mbit/s, and upload speeds of 5 Mbit/s in a best-case scenario.
Each Sky Muster has 101
spot beams, which are focused satellite signals which are specially concentrated in power and cover a specific geographic area. The electromagnetic
Ka band spot beams are used to carry information from the end users' equipment on the ground to the satellites. Each satellite offers 80 gigabits per second of bandwidth.
The two satellites will provide high-speed broadband service to 400,000 Australian homes and businesses in rural and remote Australia.
[ The two satellites were designed to provide service for at least 15 years.
Sky Muster I (NBN-Co 1A) was launched on 1 October 2015]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 ...
in French Guiana, South America, alongside Argentina's ARSAT-2
ARSAT-2 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by ARSAT and built by the Argentine company INVAP. It was launched from French Guiana alongside Sky Muster satellite using an Ariane 5ECA rocket on September 30, 2015 at 20:30hs UTC, ...
, on an Ariane 5ECA rocket.
Sky Muster I operates in geostationary orbit of 140° East. Its orbital position is at the equator, north of Australia.
Background
The two NBN satellites, Sky Muster (NBN-Co 1A) and Sky Muster II (NBN-Co 1B), were conceived in 2012 under the Gillard Labor government, as part of the original National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australian national wholesale open-access data network. It includes wired and radio communication components rolled out and operated by NBN Co, a Government-owned corporation. Internet service provide ...
scheme and NBN Co contracted Space Systems/Loral
SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies.
SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cus ...
(SSL) to build and launch the two satellites as part of a total investment costing . The launch was conducted in accordance with the ''Space Activities Act 1998'', which requires Ministerial approval for the launch of a space object from Australia or the launch of a space object by an Australian entity from an overseas location.School of the Air
School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is n ...
student who lives on a cattle station
In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stat ...
from Alice Springs, won a competition to draw a picture of how the satellite benefits rural Australians. Her drawing of the rocket was printed on the payload fairing, and her class named NBN-Co 1A "Sky Muster" as it would bring Australians together like a cattle muster.
References
External links
Sky Muster Launch
{{Orbital launches in 2015
Satellites of Australia
Spacecraft launched in 2015
2015 in Australia