Arabsat’s first satellite of the 6th generation, “Badr-7” , was launched successfully this morning from Kourou base, French Guyana, in South America by the Ariane 5 rocket.
The Ariane 5 rocket blasted off at 21:34 GMT on Wednesday 11th ( 12:34 Makkah time) , carrying Badr-7, a Eurostar satellite, manufactured by Airbus Defense & Space with Thales Alenia Space, to be placed in ARABSAT’s exclusive orbital hotspot 26° East.
This step comes as part of ARABSAT’s ambitious expansion projects, and it is the 6th satellite launched during the past seven years on three different orbital positions to provide diverse TV broadcasting and telecommunications services . Badr -7 will join Arabsat satellites Badr – 4, Badr-5 and Badr -6 on its exclusive TV broadcasting orbital position 26° East.
This successful launch comes 30 years after the launch of Arabsat first generation satellites, which was supervised by the first Arab Muslim astronaut, His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, now President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), during his famous Space journey aboard the Shuttle “Discovery” in 1985.
On this occasion, His Royal Highness Prince Sultan extended his congratulations to Arabsat for the successful launch of Badr-7, stressing that Arabsat has been playing a vital role in connecting the Arab World since launching its first satellite in 1985. Over the past years ARABSAT has developed and adapted to the latest advanced technology in satellite broadcasting and the telecommunications field to become one of the leading satellite operators in the world.
Eng./ Khalid bin Ahmed Balkheyour, President & CEO of Arabsat, said “We are very pleased with the successful launch of Arabsat’s first 6th generation satellite. Badr-7 has great satellite capacities with a wide range of coverage on a variety of different frequency beams including Ka band to provide broadband and internet services as well as direct TV broadcasting and satellite telecommunications services. “
Balkheyour added “ ARABSAT currently has three new satellites under manufacturing within the 6th generation project, they will be successively launched over the next three years, with about US $1.5 billion investments, part of which Badr-7 manufacture and launching share is 400 million.
Balkheyour concluded ” Arabsat success was not possible without the hard work of a group of Arab engineers from our headquarters in Riyadh and our two control stations in Riyadh and Tunisia, where these young dedicated Arab engineers are operating and controlling the satellites. They also participate fully in the designing and supervising during the stages of manufacturing of these satellites, so I dedicate to them my highest regards and appreciation”. (Source: Arabsat press release)