Really Rocket Science

The SES-1 spacecraft was successfully launched and placed into geosynchronous transfer orbit on Saturday, 24 April 2010. Some detail on the spacecraft…

SES-1 is a hybrid C- and Ku-band spacecraft that will provide coverage of the 50 US states and is intended to replace SES’s existing AMC-2 and AMC-4 satellite at the orbital location of 101 degrees West. SES-1 is part of an SES contract with Orbital Sciences for the provision of up to five virtually identical satellites in order to replenish SES’ North American satellite fleet. The SES satellites are based on Orbital’s enhanced STAR 2.4 bus, the largest and most powerful communications satellite the company builds. The spacecraft will each carry 24 active C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders of 36 MHz capacity each. Six of the channels in each band can be cross-strapped to the opposite band, enabling new service capability. The spacecraft will generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power and have two 2.3 meter deployable reflectors.

So this is a replacement for AMC-4 at 101° West. Good-bye extended Ku-band and steerable South American beam. Hello, cross-strapping. That should make for some interesting combinations for customers.

There must be quite a bit of relief among the engineers at SES, what with AMC-4’s TWTA problems, which was an issue for 10 years, in addition to power issues surrounding the solar arrays. Besides AMC-4, the AMC-16 spacecraft was recently cited in their 1st quarter earnings report and summarized by Peter de Selding of Space News…

[T]he further reduction in power output aboard the AMC-16 satellite, which is fully leased by EchoStar Corp. of Englewood, Colo. AMC-16, launched in December 2004 and operated at 85 degrees west, is one of several older-model Lockheed Martin A2100 satellites that have suffered solar-power losses, especially during eclipse periods.

EchoStar and SES had agreed to a specific payment profile based on the satellite’s on-board capacity. With the most recent power loss on AMC-16 following a March eclipse period, the reduced power will cost SES slightly less than $10 million in revenue in 2010, Bausch said.

Other SES-owned A2100-model satellites have also suffered power losses, but not to the extent that commercial service was affected, Bausch said. Forecasts of how the problem might evolve are difficult because in the past, solar-array circuits that have failed have later returned to service, he said. 

Had the Galaxy-15 command failure occured in the 1st quarter, he’d probably nail them on that one, too. 

Enough bad news, on to the launch video!

Watched the launch in real-time via NDTV from Sriharikota. The launch was good, with the first stage firing perfectly (of course). The second stage burned as planned. ISRO did confirm the indigenous cryogenic engine ingnited, then telemetry data indicated the launch vehicle was tumbling and subsequently contact was lost.

After 18 years of hard work by many at ISRO, the launch is considered a limited success. They’re determined to try again in one year.

The Indian Space Research Organization is hoping it’s launch of GSAT-4 on 15 April 2010, using a 4th stage cryogenic engine they developed themselves, will allow India to join the rocket launch club, via the BBC:

The new engine is being incorporated into the upper-stage of India’s Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

"It is a complex strategy technology," said Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Chairman K Radhakrishnan.

He said the rocket would send a heavy communications satellite into space on 15 April from the country’s launch pad at Sriharikota in eastern India.

Dr Radhakrishnan told reporters in Banglalore that the technology was home grown because "one country stopped another country in giving this technology to India".

India began developing cryogenic technology after Russia reneged on a deal to supply cryogenic engines in 1993 – following pressure from the United States, which believed India was using the technology to power missiles.

"The best reply is to… build your own technology," Dr Radhakrishnan said.

India has been using Russian engines to launch heavier satellites into space for some time. It joins the US, Russia, Japan and China in having developed cryogenic engines.

India hopes to emerge as a global player in the multi-billion dollar satellite launch market.

 Adding another reliable launch service provider for heavy payloads will be a game-changer.

 Nice going/launching by ILS in Baikonur the other day, bringing relief to the folks at Space Systems/Loral — and lots more HDTV capacity for DISH Network customers. Aviation Week gives us the update…

A commercial Proton orbited the heaviest satellite ever to fly on the Russian launch vehicle March 21, placing the 6.3-metric-ton EchoStar XIV Ku-band satellite in its geosynchronous transfer orbit for the DISH Network.

The launch vehicle’s Breeze M upper stage released the spacecraft after a nine-hour, 10-minute mission. Liftoff from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan came at 2:27 p.m. EDT.

The launch was the second arranged this year by International Launch Services, and the fourth Proton launch of the year.

The spacecraft was built by Space Systems/Loral based on its 1300 satellite bus.

It will be positioned at 119 deg. W. Long., where it will deliver Ku-band service over the U.S. for the DISH Network’s high-definition programming.

And the mandatory video…

 Spaceflight Now has the pics from the Falcon 9 engine test…

Orbital Sciences reaches agreement to acquire spacecraft development and manufacturing business of General Dynamic’s subsidiary GD Advanced Information Systems.
[SatNews – 03/05/2010]

Air Force accepts WGS-3 from Boeing.
[UPI – 03/05/2010]

RRsat Global Communications Network signs agreement with ISG Media of India to provide fiber connectivity, playout and distribution for satellite broadcast in Europe and North America.
[SatNews – 03/05/2010]

SatMAX and TLC  Engineering offer SatMAX repeaters to aid Chile.
[CNN Money – 03/05/2010]

GlobecCast’s new Content Acquisition and Distribution division signs agreement with Chinese content provider ZN Animation to deliver content to Video on Demand viewers throughout Europe.
[SatNews – 03/05/2010]

GOES-P satellite, NASA and NOAA’s environmental satellite completing the N -O series,  is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral.
[NASA web site – 03/04/2010]

OmniGlobe Networks EMEA signs Letter of Intent to acquire entire issued share capital and assets of privately-held Sat-Comm Ltd.
[SatNews – 03/04/2010]

Telesat expresses support for Canadian government’s commitment to remove foreign ownership restrictions on Canadian satellite operators.
[SatNews – 03/04/2010]

Iridium provides satellite voice and data communications for 2010 Iditarod sled dog race.
[Market Watch – 03/04/2010]

European Satellite Operators Association representative takes part in  Commercial Satellite Critical Infrastructure Protection workshop with experts working on critical national security and emergency programmes from the European Commission, the US Department of State, and Department of Defense and others.
[SatNews – 03/04/2010]

TiVo wins court ruling against Dish Network and EchoStar for patent infringement with Digital Video Recorder software.
[Business Week – 03/04/2010]

Global VSAT Forum called upon to expand reach of the GVF VSAT Installation & Maintenance Training Programme.
[SatNews – 03/04/2010]

Texas senator proposes bill to extend space shuttle program.
[Space.com – 03/04/2010]

U.S. Air Force investigates electrical mini-thrusters for possible use in satellite propulsion.
[PHYSORG – 03/03/2010]

Secretary of State Clinton delivers satellite phones in Chile following earthquake and tsumani.
[Kaiser Family Foundation – 03/03/2010]

Gilat is chosen by Satcom Systems to deliver SkyEdge II network for broadband internet connectivity in Africa.
[Market Watch – 03/03/2010]

iDirect announces launch of Talia Home by Talia Limited, providing consumer-focused internet and telephone communications service in MENA, using iDirect Evolution technology.
[SatNews – 03/03/2010]

Tachyon Networks announces availability of new end-to-en d fixed and mobile broadband satellit solutions for Southwest Asia using ultra-small aperture terminals.
[SatNews – 03/03/2010].

Earth’s day is shortened by earthquake in Chile.
[Time – 03/02/2010]

UN and Iridium rush satellite phones to Chili to help restore vital communications links.
[PC World – 03/02/2010]

MTN supplies satellite communications system for Oasis Of The Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship.
[Space Daily – 03/02/2010]

Upstar Comunicacoes selects Eutelsat to broadcast ZAP, the new satellite TV bouquet of Angola.
[PR Newswire – 03/02/2010]

New satellite mobile broadband service OverHorizon, based in Arlington, VA, selects Arianespace to launch its first satellite.
[Space News Examiner – 03/01/2010]

Millions of tons of water ice found at North Pole of Moon.
[Space.com – 03/01/2010]

Russia launches 3 navigation satellites.
[Space Daily – 03/01/2010]

NASA announces plans to launch small cube-shaped satellites for educational and not-for-profit organizations.
[Space Daily – 03/01/2010]

SES WORLD SKIES announces plans to join leading broadcaster, programmers, TV makers, and technology providers in series of extensive tests aimed at accelerating delivery of 3DTV.
[SatNews – 03/01/2010]

Soldiers provide communications support in Haiti, working with a variety of networks and satellite links.
[DVIDS – 03/01/2010]

SatMAX receives 2nd U.S. Navy order for its satellite communications repeater system.
[CNN Money – 03/01/2010]

EchoStar to purchase SatMex.
[Multichannel News – 02/28/2010]

TRA grants Al Yah Satellite Communications Company a Satellite Services License.
[WAM – 02/28/2010]

Antarctic satellite broadband project wins funding under Australian Space Research Program.
[Computer World – 03/01/2010]

WBMSAT PS – Satellite Communications Consulting Services

Beautiful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome last week, putting DirecTV 12 into orbit:

The new satellite will boost DIRECTV’s High-Definition capacity by 50 percent, to more than 200 HD channels, increase the number of local HD markets DIRECTV will serve and significantly expand movie choices on the DIRECTV CINEMA™ and DIRECTV on DEMAND services. DIRECTV offers more than 130 HD channels today and delivers local HD programming to 138 markets, representing 92 percent of U.S. TV households. Click here to see which HD channels DIRECTV currently carries.

D12, a Boeing 702 model satellite, lifted off on an International Launch Services Proton Breeze M vehicle at 4:22 p.m. PT yesterday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Controllers at the ground station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa, have made contact with the satellite and confirmed that all systems are functioning properly. 

Here’s the integration work…

…and the traditional 6:30 a.m. roll-out (yeah, it was cold) …

…and finally, the launch itself…

NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer gave their acronym department a lay-up. They called it WISE and launched it a couple of days ago from Vandenburg:

WISE will see the infrared colors of the whole sky with sensitivity and resolution far better than the last infrared sky survey, performed 26 years ago. The space telescope will spend nine months scanning the sky once, then one-half the sky a second time. The primary mission will end when WISE’s frozen hydrogen runs out, about 10 months after launch.

Just about everything in the universe glows in infrared, which means the mission will catalog a variety of astronomical targets. Near-Earth asteroids, stars, planet-forming disks and distant galaxies all will be easy for the mission to see. Hundreds of millions of objects will populate the WISE atlas, providing astronomers and other space missions, such as NASA’s planned James Webb Space Telescope, with a long-lasting infrared roadmap.

JPL manages the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The mission was competitively selected under the Explorers Program, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. NASA’s Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., managed the payload integration and the launch service.

Launch video…

Very cool mission, managed by JPL and CalTech. Be sure to read their "top 10 factoids."

United Launch Alliance really doesn’t care if their Web site is updated properly or not.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket with the Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM-3 (WGS-3) satellite lifts off from its Space Launch Complex-37 launch pad at 8:47 p.m. EST today. The WGS-3 mission is the third installment of the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system. The WGS satellites are important elements of a new high-capacity satellite communications system providing enhanced communications capabilities to America’s troops in the field for the next decade and beyond.

Here’s the straight video…

…and one that’s "rocked up" with some rights-free music…

A Ukrainian Zenit rocket launched Intelsat-15 yesterday, captured nicely on video by TV Roscosmos…

Intelsat, Ltd., the world’s leading provider of fixed satellite services, announced today that a Zenit-3SLB vehicle successfully launched the Intelsat 15 satellite (IS-15) from the Land Launch facilities at the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan. Liftoff occurred at 4:00 p.m. ET, followed by signal acquisition and spacecraft separation about six and a half hours later at 10:28 p.m. ET.

The satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, will provide video and data services through its high power Ku-band payload. Once IS-15 is operational, it will replace Intelsat’s 709 satellite at 85º E, and is expected to have a useful life of at least 17 years.

Customers will use IS-15’s capacity to distribute in-demand services that include cellular backhaul, for wireless communications to remote locations; broadband networks for enterprise applications; IP trunking, for robust Internet connectivity; and video services, for DTH programming.

Nearly 23% of the payload is set aside for SKY Perfect JSAT’s broadband services in Asia.  The spacecraft was built by Orbital and will replace IS-709 at 85° East:

Spacecraft
Launch Mass: 2,550 kg (5,622 lb.)
Solar Arrays: Four panels per array, UTJ Gallium Arsenide cells
Stabilization: 3-axis stabilized; zero momentum system
Propulsion: Liquid bi-propellant transfer orbit system; Monopropellant (hydrazine) on-orbit system
Batteries: Two >4840 W-Hr capacity Li-Ion batteries
Mission Life: 15 years (fueled for 16 years)
Orbit: 85 degrees East Longitude

Payload
Frequency: Ku-band
Repeater: 22 active transponders with 30-for-22 redundant TWTA’s
Antenna: Two 2.3 m deployable dual-grid reflectors; one 1.4 m deck-mounted antenna