{"id":15781,"date":"2016-01-15T23:54:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T15:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/belarusian-communications-satellite-launched-from-china\/"},"modified":"2016-01-15T23:54:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T15:54:51","slug":"belarusian-communications-satellite-launched-from-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/belarusian-communications-satellite-launched-from-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian communications satellite launched from China"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 1657 GMT (11:57 a.m. EST) with the Belintersat 1 communications satellite. Credit: Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Chinese rocket carried the first communications satellite for Belarus into orbit Friday, recording a success in the first space launch this year.<\/p>\n

The Belintersat 1 telecom craft lifted off at 1657 GMT (11:57 a.m. EST) aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang space center in southwestern China\u2019s Sichuan province, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.<\/p>\n

Owned by the government of Belarus, Belintersat 1\u2019s C-band and Ku-band transponders will broadcast television and radio programming, support corporate networking, and provide broadband Internet connectivity.<\/p>\n

The Belarusian government set up the Belintersat project to give the nation\u2019s broadcasters access to international markets and sell the satellite\u2019s excess capacity to commercial users, officials said.<\/p>\n

Belintersat finalized the contract for construction of the satellite based on the China Academy of Space Technology\u2019s DFH-4 spacecraft bus in 2012, according to the project\u2019s website. Thales Alenia Space of France supplied Belintersat 1\u2019s communications payload.<\/p>\n

The project received financing from the Export-Import Bank of China, according to Belintersat\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Belintersat 1 satellite is seen before encapsulation inside the Long March 3B rocket\u2019s payload fairing. Credit: Belintersat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Long March 3B rocket deployed Belintersat 1 into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit shortly after liftoff. The satellite\u2019s on-board propulsion system will circularize its orbit nearly 36,000 miles \u2014 about 22,300 miles \u2014 over the equator in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

Belintersat said Friday all systems on the new spacecraft are functioning normally.<\/p>\n

The satellite\u2019s operating position will be at 51.5 degrees east longitude, a slot that gives Belintersat 1\u2019s antennas coverage over Europe, Africa and Asia.<\/p>\n

Ten of Belintersat 1\u2019s 38 transponders have been reserved, according to the project\u2019s website. The government of Belarus has rights to two transponders, and Chinese companies booked the use of eight more.<\/p>\n

Belintersat 1 is designed for a 15-year mission.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 1657 GMT (11:57 a.m. EST) with the Belintersat 1 communications satellite. Credit: Xinhua A Chinese rocket carried the first communications satellite for Belarus into orbit Friday, recording a success in the first space launch this year. The Belintersat 1 telecom craft lifted off at 1657 GMT (11:57 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3823,3824,3825,1711,135,2264,205,1888],"class_list":["post-15781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-belarus","tag-belintersat","tag-belintersat-1","tag-cast","tag-china","tag-dfh-4","tag-long-march","tag-long-march-3b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}