The Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) is a committee of
the European Science Foundation (ESF).
The Thuraya system will consist of 2 geo-synchronous satellites. The system will serve the user with a variety of services including voice comparable to GSM, fax/data of 2.4, 4.8 and 9.6kbps, standard GSM phase 2 services, short messaging, location determination and emergency services.
The first satellite was put into orbit in October 2000. The system was built by Boeing Satellite Systems and designed for of 12 to 15 years. The satellite will maintain geo-synchronous orbit at 44o East. The contract with Boeing includes the manufacture and installation of the ground network equipment, the manufacture of nearly a quarter of a million mobile handsets.
A Primary Gateway, situated in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, is responsible for Thuraya’s entire network, in addition to serving as the MSS’s main digital exchange. Individual Regional gateways could be established later in other countries as necessary.
The Thuraya frequency plan shows that Earth-to-space transmissions are foreseen in the frequency band 1626.5-1660.5 MHz. Note that in the band 1660.0-1660.5 MHz the radio astronomy enjoys a primary allocation with the explicit footnote 5.376A to regulate the protection of radio astronomy in this band.
The Thuraya Mobile Earth Stations, MESs, are compliant with Recommendation ITU-R M.1480 and with ETSI standard EN 301 681. Thuraya is confident that its system is able to protect radio astronomy in the band 1660.0-1660.5 MHz at the level given in Recommendation ITU-R RA.769.
The frequency plan for Thuraya is as follows:
| service links | 1525.0-1559.0 MHz (space-to-Earth) | 1626.5-1660.5 MHz (Earth-to-space) |
| feeder links | 3400.0-3625.0 MHz (space-to-Earth) | 6425.0-6725.0 MHz (Earth-to-space) |