When was the fourth satellite launched by the country known as the 'Giant of Africa?'
December 19, 2011
Title: Sputnik 2
Passage: Sputnik 2 (, , "Satellite 2"), or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (PS-2, , "Elementary Satellite 2") was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on 3 November 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a Soviet space dog named Laika. Laika survived for several orbits but died a few hours after the launch.
Title: Explorer 1
Passage: The U.S. Earth satellite program began in 1954 as a joint U.S. Army and U.S. Navy proposal, called Project Orbiter, to put a scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year. The proposal, using a military Redstone missile, was rejected in 1955 by the Eisenhower administration in favor of the Navy's Project Vanguard, using a booster advertised as more civilian in nature. Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the initial Project Orbiter program was revived as the Explorer program to catch up with the Soviet Union.
Title: Hot Bird 13C
Passage: Hot Bird 13C, formerly Hot Bird 9, is a communications satellite operated by Eutelsat, launched 20 December 2008 aboard an Ariane 5ECA carrier rocket along with the Eutelsat W2M spacecraft. It was built by EADS Astrium, based on a Eurostar E3000 satellite bus. It was positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 13°E. After in-orbit testing it will provide communications services to Asia, Europe, Americas, North Africa and the Middle East, with 64 NATO J-band (IEEE K band) transponders.
Title: Sky UK
Passage: When Sky Digital was launched in 1998 the new service used the Astra 2A satellite which was located at the 28.5°E orbital position, unlike the analogue service which was broadcast from 19.2°E. This was subsequently followed by more Astra satellites as well as Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 (now Eutelsat 33C) at 28.5°E), enabled the company to launch a new all-digital service, Sky, with the potential to carry hundreds of television and radio channels. The old position was shared with broadcasters from several European countries, while the new position at 28.5°E came to be used almost exclusively for channels that broadcast to the United Kingdom.
Title: Motor Trend (TV network)
Passage: Velocity Launched June 17, 2002; 15 years ago (2002 - 06 - 17) Owned by Discovery Communications Picture format 1080i (HDTV) Country United States Language English Headquarters Silver Spring, Maryland Formerly called Discovery HD Theater (2002 -- 2007) HD Theater (2007 -- 2011) Sister channel (s) Discovery Channel American Heroes Channel Destination America Website Velocity.com Availability Satellite DirecTV Channel 281 Dish Network Channel 246 C Band AMC 11 - Channel 617 (4DTV Digital) Cable Cox Channel 740 Verizon FiOS Channel 631 Comcast Varies IPTV AT&T Uverse Channel 1104 Streaming media PlayStation Vue IPTV
Title: BeiDou
Passage: The first satellite, BeiDou-1A, was launched on 30 October 2000, followed by BeiDou-1B on 20 December 2000. The third satellite, BeiDou-1C (a backup satellite), was put into orbit on 25 May 2003. The successful launch of BeiDou-1C also meant the establishment of the BeiDou-1 navigation system.
Title: Nigeria
Passage: On 24 March 2009, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, NigComSat Ltd. and CGWIC signed another contract for the in-orbit delivery of the NigComSat-1R satellite. NigComSat-1R was also a DFH-4 satellite, and the replacement for the failed NigComSat-1 was successfully launched into orbit by China in Xichang on December 19, 2011. The satellite according to then-Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan which was paid for by the insurance policy on NigComSat-1 which de-orbited in 2009, would have a positive impact on national development in various sectors such as communications, internet services, health, agriculture, environmental protection and national security.
Title: Israel
Passage: The Israeli Space Agency coordinates all Israeli space research programs with scientific and commercial goals. In 2012 Israel was ranked ninth in the world by the Futron's Space Competitiveness Index. Israel is one of only seven countries that both build their own satellites and launch their own launchers. The Shavit is a space launch vehicle produced by Israel to launch small satellites into low earth orbit. It was first launched in 1988, making Israel the eighth nation to have a space launch capability. Shavit rockets are launched from the spaceport at the Palmachim Airbase by the Israeli Space Agency. Since 1988 Israel Aerospace Industries have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites. Some of Israel's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Title: OPS 5118
Passage: OPS 5118, also known as Navstar 6, GPS I-6 and GPS SVN-6, was an American navigation satellite launched in 1980 as part of the Global Positioning System development programme. It was the sixth of eleven Block I GPS satellites to be launched.
Title: Nigeria
Passage: Nigeria is often referred to as the "Giant of Africa", owing to its large population and economy. With approximately 182 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world. The country is viewed as a multinational state, as it is inhabited by over 500 ethnic groups, of which the three largest are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba; these ethnic groups speak over 500 different languages, and are identified with wide variety of cultures. The official language is English. Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Christians, who live mostly in the southern part of the country, and Muslims in the northern part. A minority of the population practise religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as those native to Igbo and Yoruba peoples.
Title: Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2
Passage: Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) is an American environmental science satellite which launched on 2 July 2014. A NASA mission, it is a replacement for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory which was lost in a launch failure in 2009. It is the second successful high-precision (better than 0.3%) observing satellite, after GOSAT.
Title: BeiDou
Passage: The first satellite of the second-generation system, Compass-M1 was launched in 2007. It was followed by further nine satellites during 2009-2011, achieving functional regional coverage. A total of 16 satellites were launched during this phase.
Nigeria