AngoSat 1

Launch data: Designation  43087 / 17086A Launch date  26 Dec 2017 - 19:00 UT Launch site  Baikonur, LC-45/1 Launch vehicle  Zenit-3F Mission  Communications Geostationary orbit: Perigee / Apogee  35962 x 36118 km Eccentricity   Inclination   0.1° Period  1448.9 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• ANGOSAT 1 is Angola′s first satellite and carries a communications payload consisting of sixteen C-band and six Ku-band transponders. It is a relatively lightweight satellite with a mass of only 1647 kilograms (3631 lb). The satellite will be operated by Angola′s Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology. It will be placed in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 14 degrees East and is expected to operate for at least fifteen years. Once in orbit the satellite will use eight SPT-70 xenon ion thrusters to keep station. It is not equipped with a liquid apogee motor, and will instead be carried almost all the way to geostationary orbit by the carrier rocket′s upper stage
• The Angosat Project Contract was signed by the Russian and Angolan Parties in 2009. In the following years both parties carried out a joint work in organization of the project financing, that made it possible to proceed to its practical implementation. Work on the satellite started in late 2012.
• The Mission Control Center and Central satellite communication network station are planned to be built in the suburbs of Luanda. Moreover, the Project provides for activities on improvement of the currently exciting ground segment of satellite television broadcasting system of the Republic of Angola.

Mission details:

• The satellite was launched on 26 December 2017 successfully directly into geostationary orbit. Contact was established with AngoSat 1 after spacecraft separation, but contact was lost subsequently during solar panel deployment. Contact was reestablished a day later, but the status of the batteries remained worrisome.
• The 8-tonne Zenit second stage rocket from the December launch of Angosat-1 re-entered at 2337 UTC Jan 27, 2018 over the Ucayali region of Peru. This is likely to be one of the two biggest uncontrolled reentries for 2018, along with Tiangong-1 whose re-entry is currently expected in late March 2018.

External links:

• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking