![]() Airbus and its partners hope to advance the technology for future missions to achieve a one terabit per second bit rate using optical communications. The TELEO payload will test the technology’s ability to beam data from the satellite to a ground station using lasers, allowing for the transfer of information at up to 10 gigabits per second. The TELEO demonstration will test new optical communications technology in a partnership between Airbus, the French space agency CNES, and Safran Data Systems. The Badr 8 spacecraft is designed for a 15-year service life.īesides its purpose as a commercial communications satellite, Badr 8 also hosts an experimental laser communications payload for Airbus. The orbital adjustments will take several months, then Badr 8 will complete in-orbit testing and should be ready to commence operational service for Arabsat later this year. Then Badr 8 will use low-thrust, high-efficiency plasma thrusters to maneuver into a circular geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator, settling into an orbit that matches the speed of Earth’s rotation, giving the spacecraft a constant view of its coverage zone stretching from Europe, to the Middle East, and into Central Asia. After separation from the Falcon 9 rocket about 37 minutes into the mission, Badr 8 will unfurl its solar panels and run through a series of post-launch checkouts under the supervision of Airbus ground controllers in Toulouse, France. Credit: SpaceXīadr 8 is based on Airbus’s Eurostar Neo satellite platform, the company’s newest large spacecraft bus. ![]() SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in preparation for liftoff with the Badr 8 communications satellite for Arabsat. Badr 8 will provide television broadcast services, video relay, and data services across the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Central Asia.Īrabsat says its investment in the Badr 8 program totals about $300 million, including the spacecraft manufacturing contract with Airbus, the launch agreement with SpaceX, insurance, and ground infrastructure. The Badr satellites are owned by Arabsat, a pan-Arab consortium of 21 member states based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Built by Airbus Defense and Space, the Badr 8 satellite will provide C-band and Ku-band communications services to replace capacity currently offered by the aging 15-year-old Badr 6 satellite in geostationary orbit.īadr 8 will move into position at the same orbital slot as Badr 8, located along the equator at 26 degrees east longitude. The nearly 10,000 pound (4.5-metric ton) Badr 8 communications satellite is closed up inside the Falcon 9’s nose cone. When it takes off, the Falcon 9 rocket will head east from Cape Canaveral to deliver the Badr 8 satellite into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit about a half-hour after liftoff. The launch will mark SpaceX’s 36th flight of the year, and the 26th orbital launch attempt so far in 2023 from Florida’s Space Coast. ULA’s Vulcan test-firing has the Space Force’s Eastern Range reserved for Thursday evening. Facing another night with poor weather, SpaceX announced late Wednesday it would push back the launch until Friday night, after the planned test-firing of ULA’s first flight-rated Vulcan rocket at a nearby launch pad. Thick cloud cover from evening thunderstorms did not clear in time for SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, delaying the liftoff by 24 hours. ![]() ![]() The Falcon 9 has a launch window of nearly two hours to lift off from pad 40 opening at 11:25 p.m. SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt early Wednesday at Cape Canaveral due to thick cloud cover, then delayed the liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket with an Airbus-built communications satellite for Arabsat until Friday night to wait for improved weather and to make room for the test-firing of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket at a neighboring launch pad. EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated May 24 after the scrub of the first Badr 8 launch attempt, then with launch delay to Friday. ![]()
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