For the third time in less than a year satellites from Europe and India are sharing a ride to geo-stationary orbit on an Ariane 5 rocket. Tomorrow's launch will carry Eutelsat 25B, yet another big communication satellite for that European company - although with a twist, as that satellite is shared with Qatar based Es’hailSat (which also means that this is the first Qatari owned satellite). Not surprisingly, the satellite will serve TV broadcasting and regular communication services through the Middle East, Central Asia and northern Africa.
The Indian representative today is GSAT-7, the 17th Indian satellite to fly on an Ariane since 1981. Carrying UHF, C and Ku band transponders, the government and military are among the bigger users for this comsat.
Launch location:
Kourou Launch pad ELA-3 5° 14'06.34"N, 52° 46'06.34"W
Launch dates and times:
{colsp=7}Launch times
Time Zone
|
Kourou / UTC-3
|
Delhi / UTC+5.5
|
Paris /CEDT
|
Universal / UTC
|
Washington / EDT
|
Los Angeles / PDT
Launch time (Primary):
|
17:30
|
02:00
|
22:30
|
20:30
|
16:30
|
13:30
on:
|
Aug. 29, 2013
|
Aug. 30, 2013
|
Aug. 29, 2013
|
Aug. 29, 2013
|
Aug. 29, 2013
|
Aug. 29, 2013
{colsp=7}
[highlight][eventTimer]2013-08-29 20:30:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Ariane flight VA-215 Launch[/highlight]
Live Coverage Of The Launch:
PAYLOAD 1
Eutelsat 25B / Es'hail 1 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
Eutelsat Communications and ictQATAR (representing the State of Qatar) announced in July 2010 that Space Systems/Loral has been selected to build the high-performance satellite they will jointly own and operate at the 25.5° East location in geostationary orbit. The joint satellite will be named Eurobird 2A / Es'hail 1.
The selection of prime contractor marks the next step forward in the partnership signed in May by Eutelsat and ictQATAR to invest in and operate a high-capacity satellite at 25.5° East, one of the two longstanding and anchored neighbourhoods serving rapidly expanding markets in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia regions. The two organisations selected Space Systems/Loral to deliver a spacecraft with a more than 15-year design life based on the Space Systems/Loral 1300 satellite bus, which is a decades-proven, modular platform with high power capability and flexibility for a broad range of applications.
To enter into service in early 2013, this powerful satellite will provide a significantly expanded mission and superior coverage across Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia to follow on from Eutelsat's Eurobird 2 satellite, which is currently operated at 25.5° East. In addition to securing Ku-band continuity for Eutelsat and additional Ku-band resources for ictQATAR, it will initiate a Ka-band capability to open business opportunities for both parties. The spacecraft's multi-mission architecture will enable ictQATAR and Eutelsat to respond to demand for the fastest-growing applications in the Middle East and North Africa, including video broadcasting, enterprise communications and government services. The television market will in particular benefit from the installed base of more than 13 million satellite homes already equipped for Direct-to-Home reception from this neighbourhood.
In December 2011 Eutelsat announced, that their satellite assets will be renamed under a unified brand name effective from March 2012. This satellite will become Eutelsat 25B / Es'hail 1.
{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter
|
Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
25.5° East
Coverage:
|
Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia
ApA at separation:
|
35786 km
PeA at separation:
|
249.3 km
Inc at separation:
|
3.5°
Characteristics|
Astra 2F
Customer:
|
Prime contractor:
|
Platform:
|
Mass at Separation:
|
Dry Mass:
|
Stabilization:
|
Dimensions (stowed):
|
Dimensions (deployed span):
|
On-board power:
|
Communication Payload:
|
- 32 Ku-band transponders
- 14 Ka-band transponders
Life time:
|
Transponders coverage:
|
|
|
|
|
PAYLOAD 2
GSAT-7 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
GSAT-7 / INSAT-4F is a multi-band satellite carrying payloads in UHF, S-band, C-band and Ku-band. It is planned to be launched during 2011 onboard GSLV and positioned at 74º East. The satellite weighs 2650 kg with a payload power of 2000 W and mission life of 9 years.
INSAT-4 series is planned to have seven satellites, INSAT-4A through INSAT-4G with INSAT-4D as a spare. The transponder capacity of this series has been worked out after evaluating the requirement projected by different uses/user departments. It is planned that, by 2007, INSAT system will have about 250 transponders in various bands catering to a demand of up to 11 Giga Bits Per Second (GBPS) capacity.
{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter
|
Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
74° East
Coverage:
|
India land mass
ApA at separation:
|
35786 km
PeA at separation:
|
249.3 km
Inc at separation:
|
3.5°
Characteristics|
GSAT-10
Customer:
|
- Indian Space Research Organisation
Prime contractor:
|
- Indian Space Research Organisation
Platform:
|
Mass at Separation:
|
Dry Mass:
|
Stabilization:
|
Dimensions (stowed):
|
On-board power:
|
Payloads:
|
- ? C-band transponders
- ? Ku-band transponders
- UHF-band transponders
Life time:
|
Transponder coverage:
|
|
Launch Vehicle:
{colsp=2}Characteristics
|
{colsp=2}
Ariane 5 ECA
Prime contractor:
|
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/log2013.html#rate:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Ariane 5-ECA 40 41 .98 .95 40 12/11/02 2002-
Ariane VA215 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 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.
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 9,374meters/second, and will be at an altitude of about 627.9 kilometers.
The fairing protecting the EUTELSAT 25B/Es’hail 1 and GSAT-7 spacecraft is jettisoned shortly after the boosters are jettisoned at about T+193 seconds.
Ariane VA215 Ascent Timeline
Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Comment (altitude, velocity)
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|0 km 0 m/s
End of vertical climb and beginning of pitch rotation (10 seconds duration)|00:00:12.6|20:30:12.6|0.1 km 37.5 m/s
Beginning of roll manoeuvre|00:00:17|20:30:17|0.3 km 74.1 m/s
Jettisoning of solid boosters|00:02:23|20:32:23|67.7 km 2014 m/s
Payload Fairing Separation|00:03:13|20:33:13|106.9 km 2284 m/s
Shut-down of main cryogenic stage|00:08:46|20:38:46|161.2 km 6929 m/s
Separation of main cryogenic stage|00:08:52|20:38:52|161 km 6956 m/s
Ignition of upper cryogenic stage (ESC-A)|00:08:54|20:38:54|161 km 6958 m/s
Injection|00:24:53|20:54:53|627.9 km 9374 m/s
Separation of Eutelsat 25B satellite|00:27:45|20:57:45|1060.2 km 9035 m/s
Separation of Sylda 5|00:29:10|20:59:10|1319.7 km 8844 m/s
Separation of GSAT-7 satellite|00:34:26|21:04:26|2459.1 km 8099 m/s
Weather forecast for Kourou, French Guiana on August 29, 2013 (4 p.m.)
Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain. Fog overnight. Low of 23C. Winds from the ESE at 10 to 15 km/h.
References
http://www.arianespace.com
http://www.videocorner.tv
http://www.eutelsat.com
http://www.isro.org
http://www.arianespace.com/images/l...df-eng/VA215-Eutelsat25B-EShail1-GSAT7-GB.pdf
http://english.wunderground.com
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://space.skyrocket.de