Flight VS16 was performed from the Spaceport’s ELS launch zone for Arianespace’s medium-lift Soyuz. Photo: Arianespace

Arianespace has successfully launched the Hispasat 36W-1 telecommunications satellite for Spanish satellite communications operator Hispasat aboard a Soyuz rocket on Friday, January 27 from the Guiana Space Center (CSG). This was the first launch of the year for Arianespace, and also the first Soyuz launch into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from CSG.

Hispasat 36W-1 is the first satellite built using Europe’s new SmallGEO geostationary platform, developed by OHB System AG of Germany within the scope of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) program. Equipped with 20 Ku-band transponders and the additional capacity of three transponders in Ka band, Hispasat 36W-1 features the innovative RedSAT regenerative payload, along with an antenna equipped with a processor that allows onboard beam reconfiguration. Once at its orbital position at 36 degrees west, Hispasat 36W-1 will enable Hispasat to provide a wide range of telecommunications services in Europe, the Canary Islands and South America.