Report by Amey Haldankar
Space X launched a Turkish communication satellite, TürkSat 5B, last Sunday. The launch took place at Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
TurkSat 5B is a Turkish geostationary communications satellite launched for military and telecommunications purposes. This mission is a follow up to the Türksat 5A mission, which was launched on 8th January 2021. The launch of the satellite was done using the rocket Falcon 9 Block 5 B1067-3 and it took off at 2258 hours Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Saturday and 1228 hours IST, Sunday.
Airbus Defence and Space was given the task to manufacture 3/4th of the satellite while the rest was manufactured in Turkey. The satellite’s mass is 4.5 tons and it is expected to be operational for 35 years.
The satellite will provide TV broadcasting services and telecommunications services to Europe, Middle East, and some parts of Africa too. This launch also resulted in SpaceX making a record for itself by sending 2 satellites within 24 hours with the earlier being the launch of 52 Starlink satellites.
Credit for both images: SpaceX
