Türksat 2A

Türksat 2A, a.k.a. Eurasiasat 1, was a Turkish communications satellite as part of a project to form an instant network with two geosynchronous satellites supervised by the companies Türksat A.Ş. in Turkey and Eurasiasat SAM in Monaco. Türksat 2A was launched by Arianespace atop an Ariane-44P H10-3 launch vehicle on January 10, 2001, at 21:39 UTC from ELA-2 at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The spacecraft was successfully placed into geostationary transfer orbit and then shifted to a 42°E position, co-locating with Türksat 1C, which was launched in 1996. Its broadcast traffic entered service on February 1, 2001. Türksat 2A was designed for covering Europe, Turkey, and Central Asia including the Middle East and Russia as to serve simultaneously within that region, and to provide a direct connection between Europe and Central Asia. It is based on the Alcatel Spacebus 3000B3 series having an on-orbit mass of 3,530 kg (7,780 lb) with 9,200 W power. The communications payload consists of 36 Ku band transponders consisting of 22 pieces of 33 MHz fixed beam transponders and 10 transponders of 36 MHz bandwidth with two additional steerable beams. The satellite was retired in 2016 and was moved into a graveyard orbit above the geostationary belt.