Head of the CSIR centre, Raoul Hodges, says he is proud of his team's remarkable achievements and recorded successes in supporting satellite launches.
“After a successful support session, we are all relieved as we know we are working with a multi-million dollar satellite - there is no room for error,” says Tiaan Strydom, contract research and development manager at the centre.
He adds that the CSIR tracking, telemetry and support station is well known world wide and “we have a 100% track record that we are very proud of”.
The CSIR undertook the task when Korea launched its Koreasat 5 communications satellite to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
A Zenit-3SL vehicle lifted off at 03:27 GMT, from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude in the equatorial Pacific. All systems performed nominally throughout flight.
The Block DM upper stage inserted the 4 448 kg Spacebus 4000 C1 platform to GTO, on its way to a final orbital position of 113 degrees East Longitude.
The CSIR centre, situated at Hartebeesthoek, acquired the signal from the satellite shortly after spacecraft separation.
Built by Alcatel Alenia Space for the KT Corporation and Korea’s Agency for Defense Development, the hybrid multi-band satellite will be part of South Korea’s new high-capacity Spacecom System over the Asia-Pacific.
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