(CercleFinance.com) – Airbus announces that its Badr-8 telecommunications satellite, built for Arabsat, has been successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to provide connectivity across Europe, the Middle East, the Africa and Central Asia.
Based on the latest geostationary Eurostar Neo satellite, Badr-8 is equipped with a world first, the Airbus TELEO demonstrator, which provides space-to-ground optical communications at speeds of the order of gigabits per second.
The satellite uses its electric propulsion system to reach geostationary orbit at 36,000 km from Earth. With a launch mass of 4.5 tons and a power of 17.8 kW, it is designed to operate in orbit for 15 years.