Skip to main content

Sri Lanka’s maiden satellite launched

Sri Lanka’s first Communications Satellite SupremeSAT – 1 was launched today (November 27) on board China’s Long March 3B/E Launch Vehicle from the Xi-chang Satellite Launch Centre. 

SupremeSAT – 1 was launched successfully at 15:43hrs (Sri Lankan time) from the Space Center in China, Vijith Peiris Group CEO of SupremeSAT said. “This is a proud moment for us as citizens of Sri Lanka,” he told Ada Derana.

Sri Lanka becomes the 45th country to own a Communication Satellite and becomes the third South Asian country to have launched a satellite after India and Pakistan.

The Satellite will be positioned above Sri Lanka in the Geo-Stationary orbit at 87.5 degree east approximately 36000 km above the surface of the earth.

Built by Thales Alenia Space of France, SupremeSAT – I will operational for commercial purposes and has a design life of 15 years.

Its design is based on SB 4000 series satellite bus which comes under the medium class telecommunications satellite category with its launch mass of 5100kg. SB 4000 series has a successful flight heritage, hence it’s a very stable and reliable space platform, the company said. 

Having a payload of 56 transponders on board SupremeSAT will be capable of providing communications services, including broadband Internet, telecom and broadcasting and will cover parts of the Middle East, South & Central Asia and also Australia.

The country’s maiden satellite launch was done by SupremeSAT, a private company with collaboration from China’s state owned China Great Wall Industry Corporation.
 
The launch was initially expected to take place on 22 November but was postponed due to bad weather, Space Systems Engineer Rohitha Rajapaksa had told media.

The Board of Investment (BOI) enter an agreement in early this year into partnership with Supreme SAT (Pvt) Ltd to Launched its communication satellite for Sri Lanka.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

STUDENTS SURROUND ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING AT J’PURA

A tense situation has broken out at the Jayawardenapura University after a group of students surrounded an administrative building. The students have reportedly surrounded Vice Chancellor N.L.A. Karunaratna ’ s office building following an announcement that he will not be issuing Mahapola scholarships.

Ukrainians injured as police dismantle Kiev 'tent city'

At least 10 demonstrators have been injured in clashes with Ukrainian police and another 100 detained in the capital Kiev after authorities began dismantling a makeshift "tent city" protesting against corruption. The tent city was set up in October by supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia who has become an opposition politician in Ukraine. Saakashvili, a critic of corruption in Ukraine, was deported to Poland in February. He said he was "kidnapped" by Ukrainian authorities and removed from the country against his will. Andriy Kryshchneko, police chief of police, said at the camp on Saturday that "two court decisions" allowed authorities to search and dismantle the camp. Police said that explosives and other weapons were found at the scene

VIDEO: FONSEKA FOUND GUILTY; SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS

Sarath Fonseka was found guilty by a divided decision in the case regarding the ‘White Flag’ statement and sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Colombo High Court today (November 18). The verdict divided 2:1 was given by the High Court bench, headed by Judge Deepali Wijesundara and comprising Judges DMPD Waraweva and Zulfiqar Razin. Justice Waraweva giving his judgment deliberated that Fonseka was not guilty on all three charges while Justice Wijesundara and Rashim found Fonseka guilty of the first charge, of inciting violence through his statement, and found him not guilty on the second and third charges. Sarath Fonseka, who is currently serving a 30-month jail term imposed by a court martial, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined Rs.5,000. The former Army Commander was accused of inciting violence by, in an interview given to the Sunday Leader, alleging that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave an illegal order not to accommodate any LTTE cadres attempting to...