Page 92 - SAMENA Trends - September 2019

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First UAE Astronaut Lifts Off with U.S and Russian Space Station Crew

Soyuz MS-15 crew members Oleg Skripochka, Hazzaa AlMansoori
and Jessica Meir wave from the base of their Soyuz-FG rocket
prior to boarding the vehicle on September 25, 2019. The United
Arab Emirates (UAE) has now become the 40th country in history
to see one of its citizens fly into space with the launch of a crew
bound for the International Space Station. Hazzaa AlMansoori, a
spaceflight participant flying under a contract between Russia’s
space agency and the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space
Centre (MBRSC), lifted off with cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka of
Roscosmos and astronaut Jessica Meir of NASA on Wednesday
(September 25). The three launched on board Russia’s Soyuz
MS-15 spacecraft at 9:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT or 6:57 p.m. local
time) atop a Soyuz FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan. The flight marked the final scheduled use of
Gagarin’s Start, the launch pad where cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
lifted off on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly into
space. Roscosmos officials have said that the historic pad, also
known as Site 1, will be upgraded to support a more modern
version of the Soyuz rocket, but when that work will be completed
is presently unknown. Nine minutes after leaving Gagarin’s Start,
Skripochka, Meir and AlMansoori entered Earth orbit to begin their
journey to the International Space Station (ISS). Following a four-
orbit rendezvous, the Soyuz is scheduled to dock to the station’s we’re flying him; he’s going to work as a full-fledged crew member
Zvezda service module at 3:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT). “It is a of our crew,” said Skripochka at a press conference on Tuesday.
unique responsibility and a unique opportunity to bring aboard the “But it does bring a certain level of attention to our crew. It is a
station the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. Not that historic event to say the least.”

Algerie Telecom Satellite Selects Hughes JUPITER for Residential/SME
Services

Algérie Telecom Satellite (ATS), the leading right economics,” said Yassine Sellahi, providers.” The JUPITER System is the
public satellite telecommunications chief executive officer, ATS. “We chose next-generation Very Small Aperture
provider in Algeria, has selected the the Hughes JUPITER System for these Terminal (VSAT) platform from Hughes
Hughes JUPITER™ System to enable reasons and, also, for its scalability as we for broadband services over both high-
satellite broadband service to home look to grow our satellite Internet business throughput and conventional satellites.
users and small-to-medium enterprise and extend connectivity everywhere.” “Our Employing the DVB-S2X standard for
(SME) customers. The mission of ATS strategy globally is to help connect the highly efficient use of satellite bandwidth,
is to develop and promote satellite unconnected by delivering service directly the JUPITER System powers services on
telecommunications throughout Algeria, where we operate the business, and to more than 40 satellites around the world,
the tenth-largest country in the world work with selected partners, like ATS, in and is the foundation for HughesNet®,
and the largest in Africa. ATS will launch places where we do not,” said Ramesh the flagship satellite Internet service
satellite Internet service employing the Ramaswamy, senior vice president and from Hughes, with more than 1.4 million
market-leading JUPITER System, including general manager, International Division, subscribers in the Americas. The JUPITER
a hub and thousands of user terminals. Hughes. “We appreciate the opportunity System supports applications such
“To connect people throughout Algeria to help ATS launch service throughout as community Wi-Fi hotspots, cellular
with satellite broadband service, we need Algeria, and to bring the benefits of high- backhaul, and in-flight connectivity
a satellite platform that can deliver high speed Internet access to the many that services, in addition to broadband Internet
performance and efficiency, with the are unserved or under-served by terrestrial access.
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