Launch News Long March 3B launch with BDS I2-S, September 29/30, 2015

[Soheil_Esy]

Long March 3B launch with BeiDou-3 I2-S, Sept 30, 2015

Mission Briefing
Launch date: 2015-09-30/07:13 (GMT+8)
Launcher: CZ-3B(Y33)
Payload（Country）: BeiDou-3 I2-S (北斗全球组网卫星I2-S ) （PRC）
Launch site（Country）: Jiuquan SLC （PRC）
Launch pad: LC-3
Status: Success
Orbit type and parameter: IGSO
Remark: Launch 07-65

Overview

2015-09-30

China launched a new-generation satellite into orbit that will support its global navigation and positioning network at 7:13 a.m. Beijing Time Wednesday.

Launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the satellite was boosted by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It was the 20th satellite for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), and puts China one step closer to providing an alternative to the U.S.-operated GPS.

For the first time the satellite featured a hydrogen atomic clock. A series of tests related to the clock and a new navigation-signal system will be undertaken, according to a statement from the center.

Named after the Chinese term for the plough or the Big Dipper constellation, the Beidou project was formally launched in 1994, some 20 years after GPS.

The first Beidou satellite was not launched until 2000. Nonetheless, by 2012, a regional network had already taken shape, which provided positioning, navigation, timing and short message services in China and several other Asian countries.

China plans to expand the Beidou services to most of the countries covered in its "Belt and Road" initiative by 2018, and offer global coverage by 2020.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-09/30/c_134673630.htm

2015/09/30

The positioning accuracy of Beidou for civilian use is 10 meters or better, with timing accuracy of 20 nanoseconds, and velocity accuracy of 0.2 meters per second. It will be able to provide improved accuracy for military and authorised users.

Beidou will provide a highly accurate positioning service in major cities at the end of this year, according to latest reports.

Beidou was planned to provide global coverage by 2020, but following excellent progress could be completed as early as 2017.

The full constellation will consist of 35 satellites in various orbits, and will have more than 450 base stations on the ground to support the service.

The Beidou project was formally launched in 1994, some 20 years after GPS.

http://gbtimes.com/china/china-launches-20th-beidou-navigation-satellite

2015/09/30

The Beidou system is already operating at regional level in Asia since late 2012, it will provides an operational coverage for all countries concerned by the "Belt and Road" initiative by 2018, and global coverage with 35 operational satellites by 2020.

Finally, this month of September 2015 was a very special month for the CASC group, one of the two largest aerospace groups in China that designs and manufactures the family of Long March launchers. In one month, the group performed five launches successfully puting into orbit 27 satellites, unprecedented in its history. CASC also successively launched two new generation rockets CZ-6 and CZ-11.

http://www.spacechina.com/n25/n144/n206/n214/c1041937/content.html

Technical details

The Benefits of Inclined-Orbit Operations for Geostationary Orbit Communication Satellites

2011-04-06

Geostationary orbit (GEO) communication satellites can be extended in lifetime by switching to inclined-orbit operations. In this mode, a small amount of propellant is reserved to maintain the assigned orbit longitude. Inclination is allowed to build up at a rate of approximately 0.8○ per year. Developing these space resources can bring out a number of benefits. Besides communication application, these satellites can be used to construct navigation constellation of the Chinese Area Positioning System (CAPS). In this present paper, the realization way of communication and navigation applications is studied and the benefits and problems are explained.

http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/arsa.2011.46.issue-1/v10018-011-0007-1/v10018-011-0007-1.xml

Four to five new Beidou satellites will be orbited in 2015
http://www.unoosa.org/pdf/pres/stsc2015/tech-50E.pdf

A new phase 3 global network Beidou satellite developed by CASC with a height of 3.6 m
http://www.spacechina.com/n25/n144/n206/n214/c921286/content.html

It is the fourth phase 3, global network satellites in orbit, and the 20th Beidou Navigation satellite. It is the first to use a hydrogen atomic clock. After orbital insertion, it will test the hydrogen atomic clock the inter-satellites connection and the new navigation signal system and so on.

The fifth Chinese space launch this month, overall 212th.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/2015-09/30/c_1116717911.htm

2015-04-10

The first Chinese hydrogen atomic clock deployed on Beidou satellite I2-S, is developed by the Institute 203 of CASIC.

This institute has already developed the rubidium atomic clocks deployed on other Beidou satellites and also an other type of rubidium of atomic clock.


http://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2015-04/10/nw.D110000gmrb_20150410_7-01.htm

2015/09/30

This new satellite, which will be the 20th operational of the network, is designed by the institute CAST (China Academy of Space Technology) CCAC group. According to the chief engineer of the Beidou program, Xie Jun, the I2-S satellite communication will conduct testing and navigation signals with the other 2 new Beidou satellites, M1 and M2-S-S, launched into orbit on July 25, 2015. This will be the first test between satellites in MEO orbit and IGSO .

The new navigation signals were successfully tested on the two MOE satellites launched in July, this means that the quality problem detected on these two satellites, termed as "minor" by some and which triggered a wider campaign for quality enhancement in all entities of the CCAC group, has been resolved. Although the problem has not yet been made public, some say the reversal of physical signals was finally corrected by software.

The satellite also uses a new dedicated satellite platform of over 4.2 t. It carries for the first time a hydrogen atomic clock 100pc made in Chinese. It is the second type of Chinese atomic clock after the rubidium atomic clock.

http://www.spacechina.com/n25/n144/n206/n216/c1042495/content.html

2013-08-03

The precision of the hydrogen atomic clock that China has developed for Beidou I2-S is of 7e-15.

Meaning an accuracy of 7 x 10^-15 second for a measurement of one second. This would make a maximum inaccuracy of one second in 5,430,000 years.

During this time of 7 x 10^-15 s, the light travels in the vacuum over a distance of 2.1 µm.

http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_4b0cdab70101nuyf.html

2015/10/11

Hydrogen atomic clock developed by CASIC 2nd Academy 203th Research Institute

In the satellite navigation system, a 1 ns of time error will cause a measurement ranging error of 0.3 m.

This new Next-Generation navigation positioning system's precision will reach 0.1 m, with a 0.3 ns timing accuracy

http://www.fyjs.casic.cn/n355677/n661085/c2401886/content.html

2015-09-30

On 30 September at 7:13 Beijing time, China has orbited IGSO its 20th Beidou navigation and positioning satellite, named I2-S (I meaning IGSO, 2 meaning the 2nd of this orbit, S meaning system global coverage). The CZ-3B launcher, 33th of its series (Y33), took off from XSLC.

Sep 26, 2015

China's Beidou navigation system will provide a highly accurate positioning service in major cities at the end of this year, according to the authorities on Friday.

Officials in charge of the Beidou development said that the positioning will be accurate to meter-level, even to decimeters, which is in the lead worldwide.

According to the three-phase Beidou development plan, 450 base stations will be set up before 2016 to support the accurate service. Confidential base stations will cover the whole country by the end of 2018 and the global satellite navigation system will be completed by 2020.

"The Beidou system is keeping pace with the U.S. GPS. It is regarded as a marvelous system and a milestone in China's aerospace and navigation system," said Yao Jianquan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"It does a good job in various fields including transportation, agriculture, navigation, fishery, culture and logistics," Yao added.
　
China has seen the primary sectors applied with Beidou system, while the system entered the industrialization phase. The first generation Beidou chip, module and antenna reached international standard, with the state-of-art products equipped with Beidou such as smart phones, iPad, and car GPS going into batch applications.

http://newscontent.cctv.com/NewJsp/news.jsp?fileId=318268

Assembly and rollout

September 30 at dawn LC3

https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight/status/649064933859045376

Launch pad

Coordinates of LC3

28°14'49.2"N 102°01'44.8"E

https://www.google.com/maps/place/2...63m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

First launch from the newly modified pad 3 at XSLC for LM-3B/C

https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight/status/649014293418012672

Before and after upgrade

Preannouncement

A2740/15 (Issued for ZPKM ZGZU) - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED 

BY:N2417E10608-N2446E10541-N2435E10528-N2407E10555 BACK TO START. 

VERTICAL LIMITS:GND-UNL. GND - UNL, 

29 SEP 23:05 2015 UNTIL 29 SEP 23:47 2015.

CREATED: 24 SEP 06:47 2015

A2741/15 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED 

BY:N1807E11151-N1845E11119-N1818E11043-N1740E11115 BACK TO START. 

VERTICAL LIMITS:GND-UNL. GND - UNL, 

29 SEP 23:08 2015 UNTIL 30 SEP 00:03 2015.

CREATED: 24 SEP 06:48 2015

Launch imminent, less than 10 minutes!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

So yeah, there's supposed to be a launch out of Xichang right at around this moment - the 2nd in just 18 days. Alas, except for the trajectory that seems to show that it may be the launch of the 21st satellite in China's BDS satellite navigation system, everything else is based on conjecture and rumors. :shifty:

I certainly wouldn't start a thread on so shaky grounds at this point.... :uhh:

 

[Soheil_Esy]

So yeah, there's supposed to be a launch out of Xichang right at around this moment - the 2nd in just 18 days. Alas, except for the trajectory that seems to show that it may be the launch of the 21st satellite in China's BDS satellite navigation system, everything else is based on conjecture and rumors. :shifty:

I certainly wouldn't start a thread on so shaky grounds at this point.... :uhh:

Liftoff confirmed, images already circulating on Weibo

:rofl:

http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=15138&pid=382049

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Liftoff confirmed, images already circulating on Weibo

:rofl:

http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=15138&pid=382049

.....and you apparently didn't know that was me who posted that on the Chinese spaceflight forums. Just that I don't think this is of any importance on this forum.

 

[Soheil_Esy]

.....and you apparently didn't know that was me who posted that on the Chinese spaceflight forums. Just that I don't think this is of any importance on this forum.

How can one claim to be posting alleged images from a forum that is currently down!:rofl:

And a said forum that is even becoming a joke for other space forums!!

航天港什么渣服务器啊，每次一到发射就挂
Each time there is a space launch 9ifly goes down!

http://lt.cjdby.net/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=2075995&pid=65066890

:rofl:


Launch

Here the very first Weibo images:

Official images

TV screen captures

VIDEO

• http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10598/fc23e87770b3451584ed26483da9dcf7

 

[Soheil_Esy]

In orbit

On the ground

CZ-3B R/B

40939/2015-053B，  220  X  37052（km）  X   55.012°

First 2 TLEs published by NORAD

Two Line Element Set (TLE):

2015-053A BEIDOU I2-S             
1 40938U 15053A   15273.54744126 -.00691254 -59717-6 -43768-1 0  9993
2 40938  55.0487 303.8303 7309575 179.8022 108.7157  2.27587432    21
2015-053B CZ-3B R/B              
1 40939U 15053B   15273.55658579 -.00000102  00000-0  00000+0 0  9990
2 40939  55.0113 304.2006 7354817 180.3281  98.0302  2.19270510    26

Payload fairing debris

Debris from the 1st stage of China's Beidou launch today landed on a car in Zurong town, Guangxi.

---------- Post added at 05:06 ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 ----------

So yeah, there's supposed to be a launch out of Xichang right at around this moment - the 2nd in just 18 days. Alas, except for the trajectory that seems to show that it may be the launch of the 21st satellite in China's BDS satellite navigation system, everything else is based on conjecture and rumors. :shifty:

I certainly wouldn't start a thread on so shaky grounds at this point.... :uhh:

Well, Google confirms that we are first to report in English language this current launch!:rofl:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Well, I prefer to wait for things to settle down and make a more accurate report of the things anyway. This is usually not a problem for any space mission from other countries, but the way that the Chinese keep almost every single satellite launch in secret means that the real time reports may not always be correct (including, but not limited to, the rocket used, the satellite involved and what do they do in space). :rofl:

Anyway, more than one week later, here's my report:

The Chinese simply does not know how to stop launching! In just 17 days, they have done their 5th space launch - an all time new record for this space power. (and they would made a 6th just a week later - more on that in another post)

The 29th Long March 3B rocket lifted off from pad 3 of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 23:13 UTC on September 29, just after the sun rose over the mountains of south-western China. As predicted earlier from Internet rumors, the satellite on board is the 20th satellite of China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), China's equivalent of America's GPS, Russia's GLONASS and Europe's Galileo systems. About 15 minutes after launch, the satellite was deployed into a geosynchronous transfer orbit inclined at 55 degrees.

As its name shows, BDS I2-S is the 2nd in orbit testing satellite of the new generation of BDS navigation satellites operating in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, after I1-S launched in March. Two other new satellites are being tested about 10000 km below after launch in late July.

The most interesting thing is that I2-S is very different from its "half-sister" I1-S! This is because the Chinese decided to hedge bets and contracted out the production of the around 30 satellites needed to make BDS service global to both the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST, China's most well known spacecraft development bureau) and an institute under the China Academy of Sciences (CAS). I2-S (along with its smaller siblings M1-S and M2-S) is from CAST and is a much larger satellite than I1-S, hence it does not need the use of the new YZ-1 upper stage (used during the last two BDS launches) as it would move to the final orbit by itself.

One other main difference from others is that it make use of China's first hydrogen maser atomic clock in space. Due to its even better theoretical accuracy than the rubidium and cesium atomic clocks, new navigation satellites like the European Galileo ones are now starting to use them in space, and the Chinese certainly don't want to be left out.

And there's also something new about this launch - this is the very first time Xichang's old pad 3 launches an LM rocket with boosters. Constructed as the launch center's 1st launch pad back in the early 1980s, it was the exclusive base for the Long March 3 rocket, China's first rocket with beyond low Earth capability and the first to use liquid hydrogen (3rd country to do so!). This pad was used for the launch of China's first geostationary orbit satellite in April 1984 and their first commercial launch (the legendary AsiaSat 1) in April 1990.

The last of 11 LM-3 launches occurred in June 2000. After sitting dormant for several years, pad 3 was re-built to launch LM-3's direct replacement, the Long March 3A, taking part of pad 2's heavier duties. 11 launches of the LM-3A used the pad between 2007 and 2012, including China's first lunar probe Chang'e 1. However its usage has dropped in recent years due to the increasing size of satellites, so the pad has been in modification work for the last 2 years to re-fit it for the Long March 3B and 3C rockets, which has started to fill up the queue for pad 2. This launch was the pad's first in 2.5 years.

The quick rush of actions from the Chinese continues with yet another launch just 2 days ago. But I guess that will be the topic for another thread..... :tiphat:

NASASpaceflight.com: Chinese Long March 3B lofts next Beidou-3 satellite

Spaceflight Now: 20th satellite launched for Chinese navigation fleet