June 23 (SeeNews) - US-based SpaceX said on Friday it has successfully launched Bulgaria’s first geostationary communications satellite, Bulsatcom's BulgariaSat-1.
BulgariaSat-1 was taken into space from Cape Canaveral aboard a space-proven Falcon 9 rocket provided by SpaceX. Following stage separation, Falcon 9 successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX said in a webcast.
The satellite will be positioned into orbit at 36,000 km above the Earth. Within a month of the launch, the ground control room will carry out the necessary tests and settings before the satellite can become operationally ready to broadcast.
BulgariaSat-1 will provide high quality Direct-to-Home television and communications services to the Balkans, other regions of Europe and North Africa. The satellite could also be used in case of natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms and floods when land-based networks are not operational.
The project’s estimated cost is $235 million (210.2 million euro). The funding has been provided by the Export–Import Bank of the United States and a consortium of European lenders led by Deutsche Bank and including the EBRD, Raiffeisen, CIBank and Citibank.
Bulsatcom is a leading telecommunications company and the largest pay-TV services provider in Bulgaria.
($ = 0.8946 euro)