On 24 March 2018, B-SAT ordered the second of its fourth generation satellite from SSL, BSAT-4b. It was expected to be weight around 3,530 kilograms (7,780 lb), have 24 Ku-bandtransponders with a 15-year design life. At the time, it was expected for a launch in June 2020.[2][3][4] It was to serve as an backup to BSAT-4a, and enter service before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.[3]
On 19 April 2018, Arianespace was contracted for an Ariane 5 ECA launch service.[3] On 1 July 2020, the satellite was delivered to French Guiana inside a container supplied by RUAG Space[5][6]
Launch
The satellite was launched on 15 August 2020 at 22:04 UTC.[1]
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).