Türksat 1C was a Turkish

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

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 () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

of France. Türksat 1C was launched by

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

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 West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

n satellite Arabsat-2A in a dual-payload launch on July 9, 1996, from

ELA-2 The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximately north of the equator at a latitude o ...

at the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

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 ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. 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 spacec ...

, 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 In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...

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 launc ...

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 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 of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

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 "wikt:back ...

, nine with 36Mhz, two with 54Mhz and five 72Mhz bandwidth. On July 16, 2008, all traffic on Turksat 1C was transferred to Turksat 3A, which was launched on June 13, 2008 and its television broadcast was terminated on October 3, 2010.

See also