The Optus bird is no longer in the air
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:16pm
But that’s a good thing, because that means it will soon be serving up all sorts of content.
Australia’s latest satellite has rocketed into space after the Optus D3 successfully lifted off from French Guiana.
The Ariane 5 rocket, operated by Arianespace, lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 8.08am (AEST) on Saturday.
Optus D3 will expand the telecommunications company’s satellite technology by providing redundant capabilities and expanded capacity for subscription television, free-to-air TV and voice, internet and radio services.
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The satellite will take a few days to assume its orbit of 35,000km above Australia.It will then undergo two months of tests before it commences commercial operations.
This does force me to wonder what will happen if it fails its tests? Would they burn it in the atmosphere and send a new satellite up in its place? That would be a rather expensive option, considering that hundreds of thousands of dollars go in to launching each satellite…I wonder what the return is on these satellites? They must make a lot of money selling broadcast space if they can afford the launch costs.
Too many questions for a Saturday night. I’m just happy to see D3 has been launched.
Samuel
Entry Filed under: TV/Radio/Media
