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| Space Segment |
| The Space Segment comprises one operational
satellite (the Thuraya 2) positioned in Geosynchronous
Orbit, 35,786 km (22,236 miles) above the Earth, at 44
degrees East Longitude and inclined at 6.3 degrees. |
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| The first operational satellite was successfully
launched on the 21st October 2000 and full commercial
service began in a gradual roll out starting from April
2001 in many countries in Thuraya's coverage area. Thuraya's
second satellite Thuraya 2 was launched on the 10th of
June 2003 while a third satellite is being built by Boeing
Satellite Systems to expand system capacity. |
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| The Thuraya Geo satellite, which constitutes
the Space Segment, is operated and managed by a sophisticated
and integrated ground network known as the Ground Segment.
The Ground Segment includes the Satellite Operation Centre,
which monitors and controls satellite movement, ensuring
the overall and ongoing maintenance of satellites in geo-synchronous
orbit. |
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| Satellite Overall Design |
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 Number of satellites: 2 |
| Type of orbit: Geo-synchronous orbit
with 6.3° inclination |
| Orbital locations: 44° E and 28.5°
E |
| Service life of 12 years |
| Compatible with Sea Launch and Ariane
5 launch vehicles and others |
| Supplier: Hughes Space & Communications
International, Inc. |
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| Payload Subsystem |
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| 12.25 meter aperture deployable satellite
antenna |
| On-board digital signal processing
(DSP) to facilitate interconnectivity between the common feeder link
coverage and the spot beams to make effective use of the feeder link
band and to facilitate mobile to mobile links between any spot beams |
| Digital beam-forming capability which
allows Thuraya to reconfigure beams in the coverage area, to enlarge
beams and to activate new beams. It also allows the system to maximise
coverage of "hot spots", or those areas where excess capacity is required. |
| The flexibility to allocate 20% of
the total power to any spot beam. |
| The flexibility to reuse the spectrum
up to 30 times and therefore use the spectrum efficiently. |
The signal characteristics of 8 time-multiplexed
voice circuits:
Modulation pi/4 QPSK
FDMA carrier channel BW 27.7 kHz
Channel bit rate is 46.8kbps |
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| Bus Subsystem |
| Power |
Solar
Beginning of life 13KW
End of life 11KW |
| Panels are 2 wings of 4 panels each w/dual-junction gallium arsenide
cells |
Batteries
250 A-hr cells |
| Dimensions |
In orbit |
L, solar arrays 34.5 m (113ft)
W,antenna 17m (55.7 ft) |
Stowed |
H:7.6m (25 ft)
W:3.75m * 3.75m (12.3 ft) |
Weights |
5250 kg (11,576 lb) Launch
3200 kg (7,056 lb) In orbit (beginning of life) |
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