Türksat 3A 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. It was constructed by

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...

, based on the Spacebus 4000B2

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...

, and 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 5ECA launch vehicle, along with the British

Skynet 5C Skynet 5C is the third of four Skynet 5 military communications satellites to be used by the British Ministry of Defence (MOD). Launch It was launched from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5ECA carrier rocket at 22:05:02 GMT on 12 June 2008. T ...

satellite, in a dual-payload launch on 12 June 2008 at 22:05:02

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

, from

ELA-3 ELA-3 (french: Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3, lit=Ariane Launch Complex 3), is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. ELA-3 is operated by Arianespace as part of the expendable launch system f ...

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 department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

. It is part of the Turksat series of satellites, and is placed in geosynchronous orbit at 42°E to provide communications services to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, Europe and 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 ...

. The contract for the construction and in-orbit delivery of Türksat 3A was announced in February 2006. Positioned at 42°E, Türksat 3A replaced the aging

Türksat 1C Türksat 1C 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 1C was launc ...

, which entered service in 1996. It consists of 24 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 of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

s, nine with 36Mhz, 12 with 36

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

and 12 with 72 MHz bandwidth. Turksat 3A was originally intended to start services at the beginning of 2008.

See also