Mission report
As mentioned in the opening post, the first of two satellites ordered by the government of Australia to provide satellite Internet services to the Outback and beyond is now on the launch pad and ready to fly.
Well OK, that doesn't sound like too interesting - unless you want to use their service. But such is exactly the case to 6 year old Bailey Brooks, who lives deep in the central desert/grasslands of Down Under and actually uses Internet to learn remotely without needing to go to school miles away.
After winning an art competition for young children illustrating how the new broadband network will make Australia a better country, she got the chance to name the #1 passenger of today's flight (and in fact she will now be able to see it fly in a few hours time!).
And thus we have the
Sky Muster, which will direct information flows from Down Under through more than 200 Ka-band spot beams on the satellite, just like how herders gather all the cattle around. A pretty fitting name for an Oz satellite, I shall say! :tiphat:
Interestingly enough, the other passenger on today's flight is also a communication satellite ordered by the government of a Southern Hemisphere country that also have as many cows as Down Under - the Argentinians.
Unlike our Sky Muster, however, ARSAT-2 was actually designed and built in the home country, being the second communication satellite designed in Argentina,
after ARSAT-1 which flew just under a year ago.
The ARSAT project has been one of the major forces in speeding up spaceflight technology development in this South American country, and they are now on the way to come on top of other nations in the continent. Like ARSAT-1, it will provide multi-purpose satellite communication services across the Americas.
Who knows, maybe we will see more satellites associating with cows in space very soon. :rofl:
Launch location:
Kourou Launch pad ELA-3 5° 14'06.34"N, 52° 46'06.34"W
Launch dates and times:
{colsp=6}Launch times
Time Zone
|
Paris /CEDT
|
Universal / UTC
|
Kourou / UTC-3
|
Washington / EDT
|
Los Angeles / PDT
Launch time (Primary):
|
22:30:00
|
20:30:00
|
17:30:00
|
16:30:00
|
13:30:00
on:
|
Sep. 30, 2015
|
Sep. 30, 2015
|
Sep. 30, 2015
|
Sep. 30, 2015
|
Sep. 30, 2015
{colsp=6}
[highlight][eventTimer]2015-09-30 20:30:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Ariane flight VA-226 Launch[/highlight]
Live Coverage Of The Launch:
PAYLOAD 1
NBN Co 1A (Sky Muster) communication satellite:
Mission Summary
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced in February 2012 that it has been awarded a contract to provide two high-throughput communications satellites called NBN Co 1A and 1B, that will be used to deliver high-speed broadband service to rural and remote areas of Australia. The satellites will be operated by NBN Co Limited (NBN Co), which was established to implement the Australian government policy initiative of providing access to high speed broadband to every household and business in the country via an integrated national network that will utilize fiber, wireless, and satellite technologies.
The satellites for NBN Co are based on the SS/L 1300 platform, which leads the industry in reliability and has been optimized to provide enhanced performance and capacity distribution for broadband missions. The satellites are designed to provide service for 15 years or more.
The two satellites, NBN Co 1A and 1B, are both Ka-band, high-throughput broadband satellites that use multiple spot beams in an advanced design that tailors capacity to Australia's vastly distributed population. When launched in 2015, the satellites will provide service to some of the most remote places in Australia, as well as its coastal islands and external territories including Norfolk Island, Cocos Island, Christmas Island and Macquarie Island in the Antarctic.
The contract award also includes satellite control facilities, support for system capacity planning and optimization, systems to manage satellite operations, and end-to-end systems integration support.
The first satellite received the nick name Sky Muster in May 2015, which was selected from hundreds of entries as the winner of the nationwide competition for school children.
{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter
|
Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
135/150° East
Coverage:
|
Australia
ApA at separation:
|
35786 km
PeA at separation:
|
250 km
Inc at separation:
|
6°
Characteristics|
NBN Co 1A
Customer:
|
Prime contractor:
|
Platform:
|
Mass at Separation:
|
Dry Mass:
|
Stabilization:
|
Dimensions (stowed):
|
Dimensions (deployed span):
|
On-board power:
|
Communication Payload:
|
Life time:
|
Ka-band Transponders coverage:
|
|
PAYLOAD 2
ARSAT-2 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
ARSAT-2 is an Argentine comsat project and is slated to enter service in 2015, and will be positioned at 81 degrees West.
ARSAT 2 will carry four C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders, compared to 24 Ku-band transponders for ARSAT 1. It will be capable of providing 3.4 kilowatts of power to its payload.
{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter
|
Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
81° West
Coverage:
|
North/South Americas
ApA at separation:
|
35786 km
PeA at separation:
|
250 km
Inc at separation:
|
6°
Characteristics|
ARSAT-2
Customer:
|
Prime contractor:
|
Platform:
|
Mass at Separation:
|
Dry Mass:
|
Stabilization:
|
Dimensions (stowed):
|
Dimensions (deployed span):
|
On-board power:
|
Communication Payload:
|
- 26 Ku-band transponders
- 10 C-band transponders
Life time:
|
Transponder coverage:
|
|
|
|
Launch Vehicle:
{colsp=2}Characteristics
|
{colsp=2}
Ariane 5 ECA
Prime contractor:
|
- Airbus Defence and Space (ex-EADS Astrium)
Height:
| 50.5 m with upper stage and payload fairing
Diameter:
| max 11.56 m
Liftoff mass:
| 780 metric tonnes
Payload mass:
| ~10 tonnes at GTO (1500 m/s to GEO)
SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER (EAP):
|
- 2 X P241 motor
- Empty 38 tonnes
- Propellants 240 tonnes (HTPB)
- Thrust in vacuum 700 tonnes of force
- Thrust at sea level 509.9 tonnes of force
CRYOGENIC MAIN CORE STAGE (EPC):
|
- 1 X Vulcain-2 engine
- Empty 14.7 tonnes
- Propellants 170 tonnes (LOX + LH2)
- Thrust in vacuum 139 tonnes of force
- Thrust at sea level 96 tonnes of force
CRYOGENIC UPPER STAGE (ESC-A):
|
- 1 X HM7B engine
- Empty 4.54 tonnes
- Propellants 14.9 tonnes (LOX + LH2)
- Thrust in vacuum 6.7 tonnes of force
Payload Fairing:
|
- Diameter 5.4 m
- Length 17 m
- Mass 2675 kg
The vehicle's
reliability statistics according to
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2015.html#rate:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Ariane 5-ECA 50 51 .98 .96 50 12/11/02 2002-
Ariane VA226 Ascent Profile
The launcher’s attitude and trajectory are totally controlled by the two onboard computers, located in the Ariane 5 vehicle equipment bay (VEB).
7.05 seconds after start of the ignition of the main stage cryogenic engine at T-0, the two solid-propellant boosters are ignited, enabling liftoff. The launcher first climbs vertically for 6 seconds, then rotates towards the East. It maintains an attitude that ensures the axis of the launcher remains parallel to its velocity vector, in order to minimize aerodynamic loads throughout the entire atmospheric phase, until the solid boosters are jettisoned.
The fairing protecting the payload is jettisoned at T+220 seconds.
Once this first part of the flight is completed, the onboard computers optimize the trajectory in real time, minimizing propellant consumption to bring the launcher first to the intermediate orbit targeted at the end of the main stage propulsion phase, and then the final orbit at the end of the flight of the cryogenic upper stage.
The main stage falls back off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean (in the Gulf of Guinea). On orbital injection, the launcher will have attained a velocity of approximately 9,365 meters/second, and will be at an altitude of about 640 kilometers.
Ariane VA226 Ascent Timeline
Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Comment
Start of synchronized sequence|-00:07:00|20:23:00|
Ignition of the cryogenic main stage engine (EPC)|00:00:00|20:30:00|
Liftoff (Ignition of solid boosters)|00:00:07.3|20:30:07.3|
End of vertical climb and beginning of pitch rotation (10 seconds duration)|00:00:12.6|20:30:12.6|
Beginning of roll manoeuvre|00:00:17.0|20:30:17.0|
Jettisoning of solid boosters|00:02:21|20:32:21|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:03:21|20:33:21|
Shut-down of main cryogenic stage|00:08:51|20:38:51|
Separation of main cryogenic stage|00:08:57|20:38:57|
Ignition of upper cryogenic stage (ESC-A)|00:09:01|20:39:01|
End of first ESC-A thrust phase / Injection|00:25:06|20:55:06|
Separation of NBN Co 1A satellite|00:27:59|20:57:59|
Separation of Sylda 5|00:29:50|20:59:50|
Separation of ARSAT-2 satellite|00:32:28|21:02:28|
Weather forecast for Kourou, French Guiana on September 30, 2015 (5 p.m.)
Partly cloudy. High 33C. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 km/h.
Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
5 PM|30°C|23°C|65%|0%|0%|21%|1007 hPa|13 km/h ENE|
Clear
References
http://www.arianespace.com
http://www.arianespace.tv
http://www.nbnco.com.au/
http://www.arsat.com.ar/en/
http://www.arianespace.com/images/launch-kits/launch-kit-pdf-eng/VA226-launchkit1-GB.pdf
http://english.wunderground.com/q/zmw:00000.1.81403?
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://space.skyrocket.de
