20th Jan 2015 The UAE is moving to Africa with this news that satellite operator, Yahsat, has announced that the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for its Al Yah 3 spacecraft and payload is ready.
The Al Yah 3 spacecraft is expected to cover more than sixty percent of Africa’s population. It is an all Ka High Throughput Satellite which has been designed, produced and will be tested at Orbital’s satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles in Virginia.
The company released the spacecraft’s PDR, which is the first step toward knowing the future of the satellite, and its effectiveness on orbit.
The Acting Chief Technical Officer of the project, Marcus Vilaa, is quoted as saying, “The Preliminary Design Review is an industry standard process where our engineers review and confirm the overall architecture and design of our Al Yah 3 satellite. This is a significant step forward in the development phase of Al Yah 3 and ensures that we are on track to launch as scheduled for Q4 2016. While progress is underway with developing our third satellite, we are actively engaging with potential partners in Africa and Brazil enabling us to deploy much needed connectivity to underserved markets.”
The Al Yah 3 when finally launch will boost the broadband to over 600 million users, and affordably too. The satellite will also cover more than ninety five percent of Brazil’s population. Broadband revolution ahead Africa.