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Satnews Daily
January 17th, 2014

ILS, Turkey + Mitsubishi Electric—Pad Bound (Launch Preparations)



Artistic rendition of the TürkSat-4A satellite.

[SatNews] A Turkish telecommunications satellite will be launched February 15 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton-M heavy-lift rocket, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.

The satellite was delivered to Baikonur on a cargo airplane on Thursday. The TurkSat-4A, manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric of Japan, will undergo a series of self-diagnostics before being fuelled and integrated with the rocket under a contract with International Launch Services.

“Following customs procedures it will be sent to a testing facility, where it will be held in a cleanroom for further launch preparations,” Roscomos said on its website.

The 3,800-kilogram satellite will be stationed at a geosynchronous orbit to provide television broadcast and data services for customers in Turkey as well as in Europe, Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The launch will be the sixth following a three-month suspension of Proton launches after an explosion of one of the rockets shortly after liftoff last July.