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Russia’s Proton-M rocket delivers telecoms satellite for Angola to orbit — Roscosmos

A Proton-M carrier rocket with an AngoSat-2 telecoms satellite for Angola blasted off on October 12 at 06:00 p.m

BAIKONUR COSMODROME /Kazakhstan/, October 13. /TASS/. The Angosat-2 telecommunications satellite, launched in the interests of the Republic of Angola, has been delivered into the designated orbit, Russian space corporation Roscosmos said in a statement on Thursday.

"On the night of October 13, the Angolan satellite Angosat-2, created by the Roscosmos enterprise, was brought into the designated orbit," the Roscosmos announced on its Telegram channel.

A Proton-M carrier rocket with an AngoSat-2 telecoms satellite for Angola blasted off on October 12 at 06:00 p.m. Moscow time from the Baikonur spaceport. About nine minutes later, the rocket’s head unit comprising a DM-03 booster and the satellite separated from the rocket’s upper stage. Further brining into orbit took place with the help of the upper stage of DM-03.

Russia and Angola agreed on creating an AngoSat-2 telecoms satellite instead of the defunct Angosat-1 space vehicle launched from the Baikonur spaceport on December 26, 2017. Contact with the satellite was lost the next day after its launch.

The AngoSat-2 satellite is based on the Express-1000N platform developed by Russia’s Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company. The payload module that maintains communications in the C, Ku and Ka frequency bands was delivered by Europe’s Airbus Group. The satellite will operate at 23 degrees east longitude. The telecoms satellite is designed to operate for 15 years.

Angolan Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication Mario Augusto da Silva Oliveira told reporters on October 11 that the satellite’s operation would begin 90 days after the launch when all technical and technological procedures were over.

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