Nilesat confirms SpaceX launch
February 2, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Egypt’s latest commercial geostationary satellite, Nilesat 301, will be launched by SpaceX next year.
Nilesat 301 is being built by Thales Alenia Space and follows on from a long relationship with Arab satellite operators. The very first Arabsat (Arabsat-1A) was built by Alcatel Alenia in 1985 which was eventually absorbed by Thales Alenia.
Nilesat 301 is being built at Thales Alenia’s facility at Mandelieu, near Cannes on the Cote d’Azur and will be the latest Spacebus 4000-B2 version. Nilesat 201 was also a Spacebus 4000-B2 craft and launched in 2010.
The new Nilesat 301 satellite will carry Ku and Ka-band transponders.