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Wednesday, 24.04.2024, 08:03
GovSat-1 successfully launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
GovSat-1
is the first satellite of GovSat, a public private partnership between the
Government of Luxembourg and the world-leading satellite operator SES.
The
multi-mission satellite will be located at the 21.5 degrees East orbital slot,
to serve governmental and institutional customers over Europe, the Middle East
and Africa, and provide extensive maritime coverage over the Mediterranean and
Baltic seas, and the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
The highly flexible and resilient GovSat-1 payload
features advanced security capabilities and uses dedicated frequencies in
X-band and military Ka-band. GovSat-1 is equipped with six high-powered fully
steerable spot beams, a high-power X-band Global beam, and features sixty-eight
transponder equivalent units in total.
The
satellite is entirely dedicated to government and institutional users, and will
be operated by GovSat from the Secure Mission Operations Centre in Luxembourg. The
secure and robust connectivity on GovSat-1 will enable critical
communications in theatres of operations, interconnect key institutional or
defence sites, and support applications such as Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance (ISR) and communications on the move, among others.
The
Luxembourg Government has pre-committed an important amount of capacity on the
satellite in support of its NATO commitments. The remaining capacity will be
made available to governmental and institutional users on commercial business terms.
“The launch of GovSat-1 opens up a new era of
secure satellite connectivity for governments and institutions," said
Patrick Biewer, Chief Executive Officer of GovSat. “It
brings differentiated capabilities on secure X- and military Ka-band, leveraging private sector efficiencies and strong
governmental support. GovSat-1 was designed to meet the specific needs of government
customers, and will enable a wide array of defence and civilian security
applications, even in the most remote locations.”
Xavier Bettel,
Prime Minister of Luxembourg, said, “Luxembourg
has always been a pioneer in the space industry and has a long tradition in
innovative partnerships with private aerospace companies. The launch of
GovSat-1 is the beginning of a new space experience for Luxembourg, after the
foundation of SES in 1985 and the launch of the first SES satellite nearly 30
years ago. GovSat and the launch of GovSat-1 is another step towards
strengthening the position of Luxembourg as a key player in the aerospace
sector, and contributes to a diversification of our economy.”
Etienne Schneider,
Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of the Economy, said, “Luxembourg has
delivered on our pledge to increase our defence spending as a NATO ally in line
with our defence commitments. We are doing this through an innovative
partnership with the Luxembourg based leading satellite operator SES. We are
thus providing an efficient and reliable solution for satellite communications
that meets the increasingly sophisticated demands of our NATO allies. We are
leveraging the competences of the Luxembourg space industry, which enjoys a
great reputation worldwide and is further being developed through Luxembourg's
SpaceResources.lu initiative.”
Karim Michel Sabbagh,
President and CEO of SES, said, “Global government satellite communications is
an important growth driver for SES, and we continue to expand our capabilities
to serve this thriving market. The GovSat-1 satellite brings differentiated capabilities
which
complement SES’s existing suite of offerings for governments and institutions.
This unique solution is possible thanks to our partnership with the Luxembourg
Government.”
The
spacecraft was
built by Orbital ATK and is based on the GEOStar-3™ satellite
platform. It is Orbital ATK’s 40th GEOStar satellite.