School kids witness Malaysian satellite blast off

Kuala Lumpur-based MEASAT Global Berhad has successfully launched its MEASAT-3b satellite, watched by senior Malaysian government and private sector officials, key business partners and four Malaysian secondary school children.

The observers – including the students from SMS Sultan Mahmud Shah secondary school – saw the satellite carried into orbit aboard an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle from the European Space Port in Kourou, French Guiana. 

The launch was also broadcasted live to 400 secondary school students who attended an event in Malaysia’s National Science Center.

The Malaysian Deputy Minister of Communication and Multimedia, YB Dato’ Jailani Johari, witnessed the launch and praised MEASAT’s success. 

“MEASAT’s successful procurement and launch of the MEASAT-3b satellite is a great achievement for MEASAT, for Malaysia’s ICT infrastructure and for the Malaysian space industry,” he said. “We trust that MEASAT will continue to push the boundaries of both business and technology as they look to become the world’s leading emerging market satellite operator.”

YBhg Datuk Umar bin Haji Abu, Chairman of MEASAT Global said the corporation was delighted with the successful launch of their largest and most advanced satellite to date.

“We thank the Malaysian Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission for their active support, without which this project would not have been possible,” he said.

The MEASAT-3b satellite will be raised from a geo-transfer orbit into a geostationary orbit at MEASAT’s key 91.5°E video neighbourhood. The satellite will then undergo testing for approximately one month before being brought into commercial operations. MEASAT-3b will co-locate with MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a to form what the corporation calls one of the region’s most powerful and robust orbital locations.