Mohammed who spoke yesterday [12 December 2011] at a National Space Dialogue and Media Conference, said the new satellite which has been enhanced to better serve Nigeria and the entire Africa continent, was equipped with a minimum lifespan of 15 years, with payloads of 7 antennae and 28 transponders.
"The replacement satellite, called NigComSat-1R is now due for launch December 19, 2011," he said, adding that the satellite also has 12 transponders in addition to address redundancy and would be operated within four different bands namely; C, Ku,KA and the L bands.
The launch is coming on the heels of a call by the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Okon Bassey, for Nigeria as a nation to partake in the exploration and exploitation of the abundant space resources which he said "has become an acceptable socio-economic and strategic drive for collaboration among the comity of nations".
Source: allAfrica.com
