Rendering of Türksat 5A satellite. Credit: Copyright Airbus 2017.

Turkey-based operator Türksat has contracted Airbus Defence and Space to build the new generation Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B communications satellites.

Marking the first all-electric satellites for Türksat, they will be developed on the latest electric orbit raising (EOR) version of Airbus’ Eurostar E3000 platform.

The platform is designed to use electric propulsion for in-orbit raising and station-keeping.

Airbus Space Systems head Nicolas Chamussy said: “We were the first to demonstrate full electric propulsion technology for satellites of this size and capacity, and this will enable the Türksat spacecraft to be launched in the most cost-efficient manner.”

Once developed, Türksat 5A will be able to operate in Ku-band at the 31⁰ East longitude position in geostationary orbit, covering Turkey, the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and South Africa.

“We were the first to demonstrate full electric propulsion technology for satellites of this size and capacity.”

The broadcast satellite will feature a 3,500kg launch mass, 12kW electrical power and is expected to be launched by 2020.

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The Türksat 5B satellite will operate in Ku-bands and Ka-bands at a 42⁰ east longitude slot in geostationary orbit.

Equipped with high-throughput satellite (HTS) payload, the broadband satellite will provide more than 50Gbps of capacity over Turkey, the Middle East and large regions of Africa.

Scheduled to be launched by 2021, Türksat 5B will have a launch mass of 4,500kg and an electrical power of 15kW.

Airbus plans to use its UK and France-based facilities to build both the satellites, which will be developed to run for a period of 15 years or more.

In a separate development, Airbus Defence and Space has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to help develop an in-orbit demonstrator under ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Pioneer programme.