The Koreasat 6A communications satellite, which is designed and developed by Thales Alenia Space, was successfully launched yesterday by a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
As prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space was in charge of the design, construction, assembly, integration, overseeing launch preparations and testing of the Koreasat 6A, which was ordered in 2022 by KT SAT Corporation Ltd. (KT SAT), South Korea’s national satellite communications operator. The company is also responsible for satellite positioning and in-orbit checkout and will be providing operational support over its nominal 15-year service life.
Based on Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus 4000B2 platform, Koreasat 6A will replace the Koreasat 6 satellite currently in orbit, delivering fixed and broadcast satellite services to South Korea from its geostationary orbital slot at 116° East.
Koreasat 6A will also make a key contribution to improving the positioning accuracy and reliability of the Korea Augmentation Satellite System (KASS) with its Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) payload. Comparable to Europe’s EGNOS system, KASS was developed by Thales Alenia Space in partnership with the Korean space agency KARI. KASS entered operational service at the end of 2023.
Initially dependent on the MEASAT-3D geostationary satellite, KASS will now be relying on Koreasat 6A’s services to enhance positioning performance of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in a range of sectors, notably air navigation. Ultimately, these services will be extended to other applications like overland transportation, shipping and location-based services (LBS).
Hervé Derrey, Thales Alenia Space CEO: “I am delighted to see that Koreasat 6A has been successfully launched and will now be enhancing satellite-based communication and navigation services in South Korea. Our teams can be proud of this accomplishment, which marks a new milestone in the longstanding collaboration with our customer KT SAT, following in the footsteps of Koreasat 5, Koreasat 6, Koreasat 5A and Koreasat 7.”
📌The Koreasat 6A communications satellite, which is designed and developed by @Thales_Alenia_S, was successfully launched yesterday by a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
🔗https://t.co/2dTi1pVdDa pic.twitter.com/g8wAfWJIXT
— Defensehere (@defensehere_en) November 12, 2024
