 |
|
| Thuraya - 1 |
| Payload - Thuraya Satellite |
At 5108 kg. (11,260 lb.), the Thuraya-1 satellite was the largest
to launch on the Zenit-3SL to date, and is the Middle East’s
first mobile telecommunications satellite. Beginning in 2001, Thuraya
Satellite Telecommunications Company will offer regional mobile
coverage to 99 countries spanning the Indian subcontinent, the Middle
East, central Asia, north and central Africa and Europe. The Abu
Dhabi-based company is planning cost-effective satellite-based mobile
telephone services using dual-mode handsets and satellite payphones.
Services will include telephone, voice mail, Interactive Voice Response,
data, fax and GPS for more than 1.8 billion people.
Boeing Satellite Systems (previously, Hughes Space and Communications
Company), the world’s largest manufacturer of geosynchronous
commercial communications satellites, built the HS-GEM (geosynchronous-mobile)
model spacecraft in El Segundo, Calif. The Boeing geomobile satellite
system features a 12.25-meter deployable antenna, and onboard digital
signal processing and beamforming. It is a mobile-communications-supporting
satellite system that integrates a Boeing geosynchronous-orbit satellite
with a ground segment and a user terminal segment. The Thuraya ground
segment includes terrestrial gateways plus a co-located network
operations center and satellite control facility in the United Arab
Emirates.
See http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/qtmovies/hsgem_deploy.mov for deployment sequence animation |
|
|
|
