satellite communication founded 1976 headquarters riyadh saudi arabia website www.arabsat.com the arab satellite communications organization often abbreviated as arabsat is a communications satellite operator in the arab world headquartered in the city of riyadh saudi arabia . arabsat was created to deliver satellite based public and private telecommunications services to the arab states in accordance with international standards . with 21 member countries the organization plays a vital role of enhancing communications in the arab world . 1 the arabsat satellites are a series of geostationary communications satellites launched from 1985 through 2011 . some of the later satellites in the series remain operational in orbit while others have been retired and are derelict . contents 1 history 2 shareholders 3 satellites 3.1 arabsat 1 3.2 arabsat 2 3.3 arabsat 3 3.4 arabsat 4 3.5 arabsat 5 3.6 arabsat 6 4 services 5 fleet 6 see also 7 notes 8 references 9 external links history edit the foundation of arab satellite communications organization arabsat dates from the late 1960s . in 1967 information ministers of arab states developed a series of principles in relation to a satellite network to create an integration of social and cultural activities among the arab league countries . on the other hand the arab states broadcasting union asbu was established in 1969 . saudi arabia did not join this egypt led and cairo based union until 1974 most probably due to the tense relationship between saudi arabia and egypt at the time . 2 on 14 april 1976 arabsat was formed under arab league jurisdiction with the goal of serving the information cultural and educational needs of its member states . saudi arabia was the main financier of the new organization due to its expanded financial resources as a result of its flourishing oil exporting industry . riyadh housed arabsat s headquarters . 2 the first launch arabsat 1a was performed by a french ariane rocket . the u.s. space shuttle discovery launched arabsat s second satellite arabsat 1b in 1985 . arabsat 1a and 1b were switched off in 1992 and 1993 respectively . 2 shareholders edit arab league members and arabsat shareholders all arab league states except for comoros are shareholders of arabsat 3 saudi arabia 36.7 % kuwait 14.6 % libya 11.3 % qatar 9.8 % united arab emirates 4.7 % jordan 4 % lebanon 3.8 % bahrain 2.5 % syria 2.1 % iraq 1.9 % algeria 1.7 % yemen 1.7 % egypt 1.6 % oman 1.2 % tunisia 0.7 % morocco 0.6 % sudan 0.3 % mauritania 0.3 % palestinian authority 0.2 % somalia 0.2 % djibouti 0.1 % satellites edit arabsat 1 edit arabsat 1 was the model designator for a series of first generation satellites built by an international team led by a rospatiale of france . it is a satellite with three axis stabilized spacebus 100 spacecraft with two deployable solar array wings making it almost 68 ft 20.7 m long and over 18 ft 5.5 m wide when deployed in orbit . it weighs about 2 800 lb 1 270 kg in its initial orbit but some 1 490 lb 675 kg of this is propellant . it has an onboard low thrust motor that utilizes hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide and transfers from an initial elliptical to geosynchronous orbit by firing this motor . the remaining propellant is then used for station keeping or moving over the life of the satellite . arabsat 1a the first arabsat satellite was launched by ariane on 8 february 1985 . shortly after launch it suffered a solar panel extension malfunction . coupled with other failures the satellite was soon relegated to backup status until it was abandoned completely in late 1991 . arabsat 1b the second flight model was deployed in june 1985 from the space shuttle discovery on mission sts 51 g and placed into service near 26 east and remained in operation until mid 1992 . citation needed arabsat 1c the third satellite of the series was launched by ariane on 26 february 1992 as a stop gap measure to maintain network services until the arabsat second generation spacecraft became available . arabsat 1d was renamed from the anik d2 a hughes hs 376 bus originally carrying 24 active c band transponders . arabsat 2 edit by the end of 1994 the arabsat system had been reduced to only one operational satellite . citation needed a contract for two arabsat second generation satellites was signed with a rospatiale in april 1993 to build several additional comsats based on the spacebus 3000a platform . arabsat 2a was launched on 9 july 1996 . arabsat 2b was launched on 13 november 1996 . arabsat 2c was leased from pas 5 in may 2002 and moved from the western hemisphere during november 2002 to a position at 26 e. arabsat 2d was leased from hotbird 5 and moved from the position 13 e during november 2002 to a position at 26 e. arabsat 3 edit on 7 november 1996 a contract was signed with a rospatiale to provide the first of the third generation satellites to be based on a spacebus 3000b2 platform . badr 3 technically arabsat 3a was launched as the first satellite of the third generation on 26 february 1999 . 4 half of its transponders were switched off on 7 december 2001 after a solar panel malfunction . arabsat 4 edit arabsat let a contract on 22 october 2003 for the manufacture and launch of the fourth generation of arabsat satellites based on the astrium s eurostar e2000 platform and alcatel space payload . the first of these arabsat 4a was lost in space due to a launcher failure . 5 6 7 this led to the ordering of badr 6 technically arabsat 4ar on 31 may 2006 . the second fourth generation satellite named badr 4 technically arabsat 4b was launched on 8 november 2006 . badr 6 was launched on 7 july 2008 on an ariane 5 to replace the lost arabsat 4a . 8 arabsat 5 edit arabsat let a contract on 16 june 2007 for the manufacture and launch of the fifth generation of arabsat satellites based on the astrium s eurostar e3000 platform and thales alenia space payloads the first of the fifth generation satellites named badr 5 technically arabsat 5b was launched by proton at arabsat s 26 east direct to home television hot spot on 3 june 2010 . the second of the fifth generation satellites arabsat 5a was launched by ariane at the 30.5 east orbital location on 26 june 2010 . citation needed the third of the fifth generation satellites arabsat 5c was launched to the new 20 east orbital location on 21 september 2011 . 9 arabsat 6 edit badr 7 arabsat 6b was launched successfully in tandem with gsat 15 on 10 november 2015 from the spaceport in kourou french guiana atop an ariane 5 launcher . services edit direct to home dth television broadcasting broadband & telephony backbone connectivity satellite internet vsats fleet edit as of august 2016 arabsat owns three orbital positions 20 east 26 east and 30.5 east . it also has six operational satellites 10 arabsat 5c 20 e badr 4 arabsat 4b 26 e badr 5 arabsat 5b 26 e badr 6 arabsat 4ar 26 e badr 7 arabsat 6b 26 e arabsat 5a 30.5 e see also edit economy of the arab league notes edit emir of kuwait adorns arab sat informatics medal 2009 . retrieved 21 march 2010 . a b c kraidy marwan m. 2002 . arab satellite television between regionalization and globalization . global media journal . 1 1 . retrieved 3 may 2012 . arab league member states . arabsat . gunter s space page badr 3 spaceflight now proton launch report proton rocket fails in arab satellite launch nemiroff r. ; bonnell j. eds . 22 february 2007 . mystery over australia . astronomy picture of the day . nasa . nemiroff r. ; bonnell j. eds . 26 february 2007 . a rocket debris cloud drifts . astronomy picture of the day . nasa . another successful arianespace launch protostar i and badr 6 are in orbit . arianespace . spaceflight.com the fleet arabsat . arabsat . retrieved 2016 08 25 . references edit arabsat arab league external links edit official site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title arab satellite communications organization & oldid 741630234 categories 1976 establishments in 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