Algeria’s first communication Satellite has begun operations.
The chief contractor, China Great Wall Industry revealed to China Daily that the satellite began operations in April. The company added that an in-orbit delivery ceremony for the Alcomsat-1 was held at the Algerian Space Agency’s headquarters in Algiers this month.
Alcomsat-1 was launched in December 2017 atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
It is the ninth telecom satellite that China has provided to foreign nations and the first space cooperation project between China and Algeria. It was designed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology, part of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, and is based on the DFH-4 satellite platform.
The Satellite has a lift-off weight of 5.2 metric tonnes and is designed to have a life span of fifteen years. It will be used for a variety of public services such as television broadcasting, emergency communications, remote education and satellite-based signal augmentation.
