Advanced Television

Japanese launch for Telesat satellite

October 20, 2015

By Chris Forrester

Canada-based satellite operator Telesat will see its latest satellite, Telstar-12 Vantage, launched from a Japanese site. Telstar-12 has been built by Airbus Defence & Space in Toulouse, and is ready for shipping to Tanegashima, Japan. The satellite is due to be launched in the next few weeks on an H-IIA launch rocket built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Telstar-12 has 50 high-power transponders which cover both Ku and Ka-bands. The satellite will operate from a position over the Atlantic Ocean at 15 degrees West and will thus serve the whole of Western Europe, almost all of Africa and South America. It also has spot beams which reach the Eastern United States and Caribbean islands. It will also be seeking business over the North Sea.

The Tanegashima Space Centre is located on an island some 115 kms south of Kyushu, the southern large region which forms part of ‘mainland’ Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is closely involved in the International Space Station where it regularly sends cargo missions. MHI makes the H-IIA and H-IIB rockets.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite