Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
It's another nervous night out at Baikonur and Moscow.... :shifty:
Since less than 4 years ago 6 Proton rockets and their upper stages failed to finish their jobs, 5 of which caused complete written off to their payloads. Except for rocket manufacturer Khrunichev itself, I'm pretty sure that the biggest direct victim of this Revenge of the Silver Hypergolic Monster (TM) is the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC), the state owned satellite communication company. They lost 3 out of 6 satellites launched to re-new their constellation over the last 5 years - Express-AM4, Express-MD2 and most recently Express-AM4R, severely impacting their plans to keep a sizeable fleet for offering communication services over this large country. The problem was made even larger when those satellites that DO made it to geostationary orbit often fails well before their guaranteed lifetimes (like Express-MD1, which failed in summer 2013 after in use for just 4.5 years, out of its planned 10 years life).
So today another of their planned workhorse needs to be lifted by the Proton - no wonder everyone get worried! And Express-AM6 is certainly no small comsat - like Express-AM5 that escaped doom last Boxing Day, it is one of the largest communication satellite ever built in Russia, based on ISS Reshetnev's new Ekspress-2000 platform. With a mass of 3358 kg, it doesn't seems to be big.....until you realized that it would be placed very close to geostationary orbit directly by the Proton! Like Express-AM5 it is carrying a large group of transponders - 72 in total for serving the needs across Russia.
Safe flight Proton/Briz!
Launch location:
Baikonur Launch pad no. 81/24 46°4'15.38"N, 62°59'5.11"E
Launch dates and times:
{colsp=6}Launch times
Time Zone |
{colsp=6}
Live Coverage Of The Launch: (not guaranteed to happen, but here are the links anyway...)
PAYLOAD
Express-AM6 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
The Express-AM6 satellite and its predecessor -- Ekspress-AM5 -- were built by the ISS Reshetnev in the Siberian town of Zheleznogorsk, Russia's chief developer of communications satellites. The company based the design of both spacecraft on its standard platform known as Ekspress-2000. The resulting seven-meter-tall satellites became the largest vehicles of their kind developed in Russia. They continued a long-running Ekspress (Express) series.
According to ISS Reshetnev, the communications payload onboard Ekspress-AM6 is comprised of 72 transponders operating in four bands of radio frequencies. A total of 11 antennas onboard Ekspress-AM6 include a three-mirror dish for Ka-band transponders and two steerable antennas (one more than on Ekspress-AM5) for Ku-band transponders. The satellite would be able to provide such services as mobile presidential and governmental communications, digital television and radio-broadcasting services, multimedia (telephony, videoconferencing, data transmission, access to the Internet) and VSAT networks. Besides European Russia and Western Siberia, Ekspress-AM6 would be able to cover Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The dry (unfueled) mass of Ekspress-AM6 was expected to be just 20 kilograms higher than that of its predecessor -- Ekspress-AM5 -- however a total mass for the second satellite would be brought to the same amount of 3,358 kilograms in order to simplify the planning of the launch. At the same time, the xenon tank for the satellite's maneuvering thrusters was lightened, which afforded to increase the propellant load from 284 kilograms onboard Ekspress-AM5 to 316 kilograms for its successor.
From the outset of the project, the Ekspress-AM6 satellite was intended for deployment at 53 degrees East longitude over the Equator for a 15-year service. At that orbital position, the new spacecraft would replace the Ekspress-AM22 satellite, which by that time had outlived its operational life. However after the loss of the Ekspress-AM4R satellite in a launch mishap on May 16, 2014, the Ministry of Communications hinted that it had been considering sending Eksprees-AM6 at 80 degrees East longitude originally intended for the lost satellite in order to "protect" Russia's ownership of that orbital slot, even though it would not be an optimal position for the replacement satellite. However, the idea was later dropped.
On Aug. 12, 2009, ISS Reshetnev reached an agreement with the Russian Satellite Communications Company, RSCC, to develop a pair of new-generation communications satellites, Ekspress-AM5 and Ekspress-AM6. However in the summer of 2010, Kazakhstan imposed a ban on all launch trajectories for Proton rockets from Baikonur Cosmodrome but the one enabling to reach a parking orbit with an inclination 51.6 degrees toward the Equator. It left the Proton rocket more than 200 kilograms short of the payload needed to deliver Ekspress-AM5 and AM6, whose mass was estimated at the time at 3,250 kilograms. Before the ban, the rocket had an advantage of heading further south, entering a parking orbit with an inclination 48 degrees.
To resolve the problem, ISS Reshetnev proposed to equip both satellites with highly efficient electric engines, which would complete the job of the underpowered launch vehicle during the trip to orbit. The main drawback of the proposal was a prolonged period between the launch and the arrival of the satellite to its final orbit due to very low thrust of electric engines. After a careful analysis, the scheme was approved in July 2012. ISS Reshetnev quickly developed a high-pressure propellant tank for around 300 kilograms of xenon to be fitted into the satellite.
{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter | Value
Characteristics|
|
Launch Vehicle:
{colsp=2}Characteristics
|
{colsp=2}
The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2014.html#rate:
Proton-M Ascent Profile
The Proton-M first three stages place the orbital unit (OU), which consists of a Breeze-M upper stage, adapter system and the two satellites, into a 51.5° inclination suborbital trajectory.
Proton-M powered flight lasts 582 seconds. The OU powered flight begins at the moment of the third stage separation.
Immediately after the separation of the third stage booster, the Breeze-M stability engines start, damping the angular velocities of the third stage separation and then providing orbital unit orientation and stability during coast flight along a suborbital trajectory to await the first burn. The upper stage follows a four-burn injection profile.
Express-AM6 Ascent Timeline
Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Comment
Ignition Start Sequence|-00:00:02.5|15:09:29.5|
Stage 1 Ignition (40% thrust)|-00:00:01.75|15:09:30.25|
Command Stage 1 (100% thrust)|-00:00:00.9|15:09:31.1|
Maximum Dynamic Pressure|00:01:02|15:10:34|
1st/2nd Stage Separation|00:02:00|15:11:32|
2nd/3rd Stage Separation|00:05:27|15:14:59|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:05:45|15:15:17|
3rd Stage/Breeze M Separation|00:09:42|15:19:14|
1st Burn Ignition|00:11:16|15:20:48|
1st Burn Shutdown|00:15:22|15:24:54|1st Burn's Duration 00:04:06
2nd Burn Ignition|01:07:28|16:17:00|
2nd Burn Shutdown|01:25:05|16:34:37|2nd Burn's Duration 00:17:37
3rd Burn Ignition|03:28:46|18:38:18|
3rd Burn Shutdown|03:46:50|18:56:22|3rd Burn's Duration 00:18:04
APT Jettison|03:48:11|18:57:43|
4th Burn Ignition|09:07:58|00:17:30|
4th Burn Shutdown|09:20:57|00:30:29|4th Burn's Duration 00:12:59
Spacecraft Separation|09:22:07|00:31:39|
Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on October 21, 2014 (9 p.m.)
Some clouds. Low 3C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 km/h.
Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
9 PM|6°C|1°C|71%|0%|0%|32%|1021 hPa|8 km/h SSE|
Partly Cloudy
References
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.khrunichev.ru
http://tihiy.fromru.com/Rn/RN_Proton.htm
http://www.satlaunch.net
http://rscc.ru
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/ekspress-am6.html
http://space.skyrocket.de
http://www.tsenki.com
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://english.wunderground.com/q/locid:KZXX0055
Since less than 4 years ago 6 Proton rockets and their upper stages failed to finish their jobs, 5 of which caused complete written off to their payloads. Except for rocket manufacturer Khrunichev itself, I'm pretty sure that the biggest direct victim of this Revenge of the Silver Hypergolic Monster (TM) is the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC), the state owned satellite communication company. They lost 3 out of 6 satellites launched to re-new their constellation over the last 5 years - Express-AM4, Express-MD2 and most recently Express-AM4R, severely impacting their plans to keep a sizeable fleet for offering communication services over this large country. The problem was made even larger when those satellites that DO made it to geostationary orbit often fails well before their guaranteed lifetimes (like Express-MD1, which failed in summer 2013 after in use for just 4.5 years, out of its planned 10 years life).
So today another of their planned workhorse needs to be lifted by the Proton - no wonder everyone get worried! And Express-AM6 is certainly no small comsat - like Express-AM5 that escaped doom last Boxing Day, it is one of the largest communication satellite ever built in Russia, based on ISS Reshetnev's new Ekspress-2000 platform. With a mass of 3358 kg, it doesn't seems to be big.....until you realized that it would be placed very close to geostationary orbit directly by the Proton! Like Express-AM5 it is carrying a large group of transponders - 72 in total for serving the needs across Russia.
Safe flight Proton/Briz!
Launch location:
Baikonur Launch pad no. 81/24 46°4'15.38"N, 62°59'5.11"E
Launch dates and times:
Time Zone |
Baikonur / UTC+6
|
Moscow / UTC+4
|
Universal / UTC
|
Washington / EDT
|
Los Angeles / PDT
Launch time (Primary):
|
21:09:32
|
19:09:32
|
15:09:32
|
11:09:32
|
08:09:32
on:
|
Oct. 21, 2014
|
Oct. 21, 2014
|
Oct. 21, 2014
|
Oct. 21, 2014
|
Oct. 21, 2014
{colsp=6}
[highlight][eventTimer]2014-10-21 15:09:32?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Express-AM6 Launch[/highlight]
Live Coverage Of The Launch: (not guaranteed to happen, but here are the links anyway...)
- TSENKI Video Streams: http://www.tv-tsenki.com/livechoose.php
- Khrunichev COOPI (login: ? password: ?): http://coopi.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=200
- Owners of PDA can watch the launch in test mode on: http://www.space-center.ru
PAYLOAD
Express-AM6 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
The Express-AM6 satellite and its predecessor -- Ekspress-AM5 -- were built by the ISS Reshetnev in the Siberian town of Zheleznogorsk, Russia's chief developer of communications satellites. The company based the design of both spacecraft on its standard platform known as Ekspress-2000. The resulting seven-meter-tall satellites became the largest vehicles of their kind developed in Russia. They continued a long-running Ekspress (Express) series.
According to ISS Reshetnev, the communications payload onboard Ekspress-AM6 is comprised of 72 transponders operating in four bands of radio frequencies. A total of 11 antennas onboard Ekspress-AM6 include a three-mirror dish for Ka-band transponders and two steerable antennas (one more than on Ekspress-AM5) for Ku-band transponders. The satellite would be able to provide such services as mobile presidential and governmental communications, digital television and radio-broadcasting services, multimedia (telephony, videoconferencing, data transmission, access to the Internet) and VSAT networks. Besides European Russia and Western Siberia, Ekspress-AM6 would be able to cover Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The dry (unfueled) mass of Ekspress-AM6 was expected to be just 20 kilograms higher than that of its predecessor -- Ekspress-AM5 -- however a total mass for the second satellite would be brought to the same amount of 3,358 kilograms in order to simplify the planning of the launch. At the same time, the xenon tank for the satellite's maneuvering thrusters was lightened, which afforded to increase the propellant load from 284 kilograms onboard Ekspress-AM5 to 316 kilograms for its successor.
From the outset of the project, the Ekspress-AM6 satellite was intended for deployment at 53 degrees East longitude over the Equator for a 15-year service. At that orbital position, the new spacecraft would replace the Ekspress-AM22 satellite, which by that time had outlived its operational life. However after the loss of the Ekspress-AM4R satellite in a launch mishap on May 16, 2014, the Ministry of Communications hinted that it had been considering sending Eksprees-AM6 at 80 degrees East longitude originally intended for the lost satellite in order to "protect" Russia's ownership of that orbital slot, even though it would not be an optimal position for the replacement satellite. However, the idea was later dropped.
On Aug. 12, 2009, ISS Reshetnev reached an agreement with the Russian Satellite Communications Company, RSCC, to develop a pair of new-generation communications satellites, Ekspress-AM5 and Ekspress-AM6. However in the summer of 2010, Kazakhstan imposed a ban on all launch trajectories for Proton rockets from Baikonur Cosmodrome but the one enabling to reach a parking orbit with an inclination 51.6 degrees toward the Equator. It left the Proton rocket more than 200 kilograms short of the payload needed to deliver Ekspress-AM5 and AM6, whose mass was estimated at the time at 3,250 kilograms. Before the ban, the rocket had an advantage of heading further south, entering a parking orbit with an inclination 48 degrees.
To resolve the problem, ISS Reshetnev proposed to equip both satellites with highly efficient electric engines, which would complete the job of the underpowered launch vehicle during the trip to orbit. The main drawback of the proposal was a prolonged period between the launch and the arrival of the satellite to its final orbit due to very low thrust of electric engines. After a careful analysis, the scheme was approved in July 2012. ISS Reshetnev quickly developed a high-pressure propellant tank for around 300 kilograms of xenon to be fitted into the satellite.
Parameter | Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
53° East
Coverage:
|
European Russia and Western Siberia, Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East
ApA at separation:
|
35401 km
PeA at separation:
|
35401 km
Inc at separation:
|
0°Express-AM6
Customer:
|- Russian Satellite Communications Company
Prime contractor:
|- JSC Information Satellite Systems
Platform:
|- Express-2000
Mass at Separation:
|- 3358 kg
Dry Mass:
|- ?
Stabilization:
|- 3 axis stabilized
Dimensions (stowed):
|- ?
Batteries:
|- five-section solar panels with total area = 84 m^2 and a span of >33 m, providing 15 kW of power
Payload:
|- 14 C-band transponders
- 44 Ku-band transponders
- 12 Ka-band transponders
- 2 L-band transponders
Life time:
|- 15 years
C-band coverage:
|
Ka-band coverage:
|
Ku-band coverage:
|
|
Launch Vehicle:
Proton-M / Briz-M
Prime contractor:
|- Khrunichev Space Centre
GRAU Index:
|- 8K82KM
Height:
| 58.2 m with upper stage and payload fairingDiameter:
| max 7.4 mLiftoff mass:
| 705 metric tonnesPayload mass:
| ~22 tonnes at LEO1st stage:
|- 6 X RD-275 engines
- Empty 30.6 tonnes
- Propellants 419.41 tonnes (UDMH and NTO)
- Thrust in vacuum 1069.8 tonnes of force
- Thrust at sea level 971.4 tonnes of force
2nd stage:
|- 1 X RD-0211 engine 3 X RD-0210 engines
- Empty 11.4 tonnes
- Propellants 156.113 tonnes (UDMH and NTO)
- Thrust in vacuum 237.4 tonnes of force
3rd stage:
|- 1 X RD-0213 engine & 1 X RD-0214 vernier engine
- Empty 3.7 tonnes
- Propellants 46.562 tonnes (UDMH and NTO)
- Thrust in vacuum 59.36 (core) + 3.15 (vernier) tonnes of force
Upper Stage:
|
- GRAU Index: 14S43
- Common Name: Briz-M
- Designer & Manufacturer: Khrunichev Space Centre
- Dimensions: Length 2.654 m, Diameter 4 m
- Empty Mass 2.2 tonnes
- Propellants 6 660 kg UDMH + 13 260 kg N2O4
- Flight time: no less than 24 hours
- Main Engine: 1 X 14D30
- Thrust in vacuum 2.0 tonnes of force
- ISP 328.6 s
- Main engine restarts: up to 8 times
- Precision Manoeuvering Engines: 4 X 11D458
- Thrust in vacuum 400 N each
- ISP 252 s
- RCS Engines: 12 X 17D58E
- Thrust in vacuum 13.3 N each
- ISP 274 s
Payload Fairing:
|- Diameter 4.35 m
- Length 11.6 m
The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2014.html#rate:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Proton-M/Briz-M 69 75 .92 .91 1 05/15/14 2001-Proton-M Ascent Profile
The Proton-M first three stages place the orbital unit (OU), which consists of a Breeze-M upper stage, adapter system and the two satellites, into a 51.5° inclination suborbital trajectory.
Proton-M powered flight lasts 582 seconds. The OU powered flight begins at the moment of the third stage separation.
Immediately after the separation of the third stage booster, the Breeze-M stability engines start, damping the angular velocities of the third stage separation and then providing orbital unit orientation and stability during coast flight along a suborbital trajectory to await the first burn. The upper stage follows a four-burn injection profile.
Express-AM6 Ascent Timeline
Ignition Start Sequence|-00:00:02.5|15:09:29.5|
Stage 1 Ignition (40% thrust)|-00:00:01.75|15:09:30.25|
Command Stage 1 (100% thrust)|-00:00:00.9|15:09:31.1|
Maximum Dynamic Pressure|00:01:02|15:10:34|
1st/2nd Stage Separation|00:02:00|15:11:32|
2nd/3rd Stage Separation|00:05:27|15:14:59|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:05:45|15:15:17|
3rd Stage/Breeze M Separation|00:09:42|15:19:14|
1st Burn Ignition|00:11:16|15:20:48|
1st Burn Shutdown|00:15:22|15:24:54|1st Burn's Duration 00:04:06
2nd Burn Ignition|01:07:28|16:17:00|
2nd Burn Shutdown|01:25:05|16:34:37|2nd Burn's Duration 00:17:37
3rd Burn Ignition|03:28:46|18:38:18|
3rd Burn Shutdown|03:46:50|18:56:22|3rd Burn's Duration 00:18:04
APT Jettison|03:48:11|18:57:43|
4th Burn Ignition|09:07:58|00:17:30|
4th Burn Shutdown|09:20:57|00:30:29|4th Burn's Duration 00:12:59
Spacecraft Separation|09:22:07|00:31:39|
Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on October 21, 2014 (9 p.m.)
Some clouds. Low 3C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 km/h.
9 PM|6°C|1°C|71%|0%|0%|32%|1021 hPa|8 km/h SSE|
References
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.khrunichev.ru
http://tihiy.fromru.com/Rn/RN_Proton.htm
http://www.satlaunch.net
http://rscc.ru
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/ekspress-am6.html
http://space.skyrocket.de
http://www.tsenki.com
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://english.wunderground.com/q/locid:KZXX0055
Last edited:
