Yahsat On Track For AL YAH 3 Deployment

• Satellite To Cover 60 percent African Population

YAHSAT, a UAE-based satellite operator, which is wholly owned by the Mubadala Development Company and Orbital Sciences Corporation, has announced the completion of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the Al Yah 3 spacecraft and payload, which is to serve users in South America and Africa. 

    Al Yah 3 is based on Orbital’s GEOStar-3(TM) platform and is an all Ka High Throughput Satellite to be designed, manufactured and tested at Orbital’s satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, VA. 

   Once operational, Al Yah 3 will enable the delivery of affordable broadband, to over 600 million users, specifically covering more than 95 percent of the population in Brazil and 60% of the population in Africa.

    Acting Chief Technical Officer, Marcus Vilaça, said, “The PDR is an industry standard process where our engineers review and confirm the overall architecture and design of our Al Yah 3 satellite. This is a significant step forward in the development phase of Al Yah 3 and ensures that we are on track to launch as scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2016. While progress is underway with developing our third satellite, we are actively engaging with potential partners in Africa and Brazil, which enables us to deploy much needed connectivity to underserved markets.”

    The PDR, according to him, was a comprehensive review that validated Orbital’s design approach to the physical and functional requirements of the spacecraft. The review is the first step toward confirming that the satellite will operate effectively on orbit.

    Commenting on the development, Orbital’s Senior Vice President, Christopher Richmond, said: “This important milestone is a key step towards the Al Yah 3 launch,” “Al Yah 3 will be the first hybrid electric propulsion GEOStar-3-based spacecraft to be launched by Orbital at the end of 2016. It provides the benefits of higher power and greater payload capability while still maintaining advantageous launch costs.”