Angola's Angosat-2 telecom sat put into orbit - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - Angola's Angosat-2 telecommunications satellite launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Wednesday has been successfully placed into orbit, Roscosmos said.

"Angola's Angosat-2 satellite produced by a Roscosmos enterprise was placed into its designated orbit in the early hours of October 13," Roscosmos said on its Telegram channel.

A Proton-M launch vehicle carrying Angosat-2 blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 6 p.m. Moscow time on October 12.

The satellite was supposed to be placed into a geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers.

Information Satellite Systems (ISS), which is part of Roscosmos, produced the Angosat-2. The satellite, which weighs 1.7 tonnes, is built on the Express-1000N bus developed by ISS. Its expected lifespan is 15 years.

The spacecraft is capable of providing telecommunications services to the entire African continent, as well as to European countries. It is designed to provide landline and mobile communication services, digital television, and broadband Internet access.

Angosat-2 was manufactured to replace the lost Angosat-1 satellite, which was inserted into orbit by a Zenit launch vehicle on December 26, 2018. After reaching its designated orbit, Angosat-1 stopped transmitting telemetry. Specialists hoped to revive the satellite in April 2019 after it became visible to the ground tracking stations but later acknowledged its loss.