Qatar’s Es’hail-2 ready for launch
November 14, 2018
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX carried out its pre-flight static engine test of a Falcon 9 rocket on the evening of November 13th.
The test is in readiness for the launch of Qatar’s second satellite, Es’hail-2 probably on November 15th subject to local Florida weather. The satellite will have a daytime launch from SpaceX’s Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral.
The Falcon 9 rocket will be one of SpaceX’s ‘pre-flown/flight tested’ versions, and which was used to launch the Telstar 19 Vantage craft for Telesat of Canada on July 22nd.
Currently the plan is to also recover this rocket’s first stage aboard the floating barge ‘Of Course I still Love You’.
Es’hail-2 has been built in Japan by Mitsubishi Electric and is equipped with both Ku and Ka-band transponders, and will increase the amount of capacity for Qatar’s Al Jazeera and BeIN Media. The satellite is also equipped with sophisticated anti-jamming capabilities.