Launch News Proton-M/Briz-M launch with Express-AMU1, December 24/25, 2015

Cosmic Penguin

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While something that has been touted as "as phenomenal as the flight of Charles Lindbergh" (ahem) has just happened at the Cape, things are.....as usual during Western Christmas at the other mega-spaceport of the world (with their Christmas still 2 weeks away).

Making its 2nd flight in less than 2 weeks (Note: the 1st was a military flight on December 13th with no live coverage, hence I was too lazy to make a report on that. That is, until when most of you are being visited by Santa :rofl:), the Proton rocket is attempting to make a good end to another lousy year with the launch of yet another new comsat for the Russian Satellite Communications Company. Express-AMU1 is another of their "foreign built comsat" coming from the Airbus group, carrying a whooping 70 transponders for the western part of Russia and Africa. It will strengthen the coverage by the state-owned company along with several other satellites launched in the past few years.

I was lucky that I overslept and missed yesterday's launch attempt - it was scrubbed at T-40 minutes due to high altitude wind problems, an almost unimaginable thing happening at Baikonur! This time, I'm in time to make a report before what is almost certainly the last satellite launch of 2015 that can be covered live. :tiphat:

(P.S. Speaking of which, I'm catching up with missing launch reports here. Two Russian launches this month that I have not covered yet will be reported over Christmas night GMT. Then there are the Chinese launches - 8 in total so far with a 9th in a few days - that I need to figure out how to do reports without cluttering this part of the forum. They should be out before 2015 ends.) ;)

200px-Khrunichev_logo.svg.png


russian-satellite-communications-company-rscc-lg.jpg


Airbus_Defence_and_Space.png


Launch location:

Baikonur Launch pad no. 200/39 46° 2'23.85"N, 63° 1'54.98"E

baik200-39.png


Launch dates and times:

{colsp=6}Launch times

Time Zone |
Baikonur / UTC+6
|
Moscow / UTC+3
|
Universal / UTC
|
Washington / EST
|
Los Angeles / PST
Launch time (Primary):
|
03:31:19​
|
00:31:19​
|
21:31:19​
|
16:31:19​
|
13:31:19​
on:
|
Dec. 25, 2015
|
Dec. 25, 2015
|
Dec. 24, 2015
|
Dec. 24, 2015
|
Dec. 24, 2015

{colsp=6}
[highlight][eventTimer]2015-12-24 21:31:19?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Express-AMU1 Launch[/highlight]​

Live Coverage Of The Launch:



PAYLOAD

Express-AMU1 communication satellite:

am-u1.png__1460x960_q85_subsampling-2.jpg


Mission Summary

The Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) has in January 2013 selected EADS Astrium to build and launch the Ekspress-AMU 1 communications satellite.

Ekspress-AMU1 will be a state-of-the-art high-capacity satellite with up to 70 transponders in Ku- and Ka-band. It will provide coverage of the European part of the Russian Federation in Ku and Ka bands, and also ensure service continuity and growth for broadcast markets developed by Eutelsat in sub-Saharan Africa. The satellite will transform the broadcasting infrastructure at 36° East into a broader system to support more television services and IP-based applications to match the development of Russia’s digital entertainment market. Eutelsat will commercialise the capacity under the name Eutelsat 36C.


{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter | Value
Working Orbit:​
| GEO
Orbital Location:​
| 36° East
Coverage:​
| Western Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa
ApA at separation:​
| 35793 km
PeA at separation:​
| 4362 km
Inc at separation:​
| 22.5°

Characteristics|
Express-AMU1
Customer:​
|
  • Russian Satellite Communications Company
    russian-satellite-communications-company-rscc-lg.jpg
Prime contractor:​
|
  • Airbus Defense and Space
    Airbus_Defence_and_Space.png
Platform:​
|
  • Eurostar-3000
Mass at Separation:​
|
  • 5900 kg
Dry Mass:​
|
  • ?
Stabilization:​
|
  • 3 axis stabilized
Dimensions (stowed):​
|
  • ?
Batteries:​
|
  • three-section solar panels providing 15 kW of power
Payload:​
|
  • 70 Ku-band and Ka-band transponders
Life time:​
|
  • 15 years
Ku-band coverage:​
|
  • ku.jpg
  • ku2.jpg
Ka-band coverage:​
|
  • ka.jpg

|
expressamu1_copyright-airbus-defence-and-space-sas-2015_500.jpg

|


Launch Vehicle:

{colsp=2}Characteristics

proton_m.jpg
|
{colsp=2}
Proton-M / Briz-M
Prime contractor:​
|
  • Khrunichev Space Centre
    khrunichev_logo.gif
GRAU Index:​
|
  • 8K82KM
Height:​
| 58.2 m with upper stage and payload fairing

Diameter:​
| max 7.4 m

Liftoff mass:​
| 705 metric tonnes

Payload mass:​
| ~22 tonnes at LEO

1st 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:​
|
briz2b.gif
  • 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/log2015.html#rate:

Code:
================================================================ 
Vehicle     Successes/Tries Realzd Pred  Consc. Last     Dates    
                             Rate  Rate* Succes Fail    
================================================================
Proton-M/Briz-M   76    85    .89  .89      3    16/05/15 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 Express-AMU1 satellite, 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 five-burn injection profile.

amu1_ground_track_1.jpg


scenario_no_parameters_1.jpg


Express-AMU1 Ascent Timeline

Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Comment
Ignition Start Sequence|-00:00:02.5|21:31:16.5|
Stage 1 Ignition (40% thrust)|-00:00:01.75|21:31:17.25|
Command Stage 1 (100% thrust)|-00:00:00.9|21:31:18.1|
Maximum Dynamic Pressure|00:01:02|21:32:21|
1st/2nd Stage Separation|00:02:00|21:33:19|
2nd/3rd Stage Separation|00:05:27|21:36:46|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:05:44|21:37:03|
3rd Stage/Breeze M Separation|00:09:42|21:41:01|
1st Burn Ignition|00:11:16|21:42:35|
1st Burn Shutdown|00:15:46|21:47:05|1st Burn's Duration 00:04:30
2nd Burn Ignition|01:07:33|22:38:52|
2nd Burn Shutdown|01:25:16|22:56:35|2nd Burn's Duration 00:17:43
3rd Burn Ignition|03:18:12|00:49:31|
3rd Burn Shutdown|03:39:50|01:11:09|3rd Burn's Duration 00:21:38
APT Jettison|03:40:40|01:11:59|
4th Burn Ignition|03:41:59|01:13:18|
4th Burn Shutdown|03:47:52|01:19:11|4th Burn's Duration 00:05:53
5th Burn Ignition|08:52:08|06:24:27|
5th Burn Shutdown|08:59:31|06:30:50|5th Burn's Duration 00:06:23
Spacecraft Separation|09:12:00|06:43:19|

Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on December 25, 2015 (3 a.m.)

Windy with rain likely. High around 5C. Winds SW at 30 to 50 km/h. Chance of rain 80%.

Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
3 AM|3°C|1°C|89%|33%|0%|100%|1014 hPa|24 km/h SSW|
nt_chancerain.svg
Chance of Rain

References
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.khrunichev.ru
http://tihiy.fromru.com/Rn/RN_Proton.htm
http://www.satbeams.net
http://rscc.ru
https://airbusdefenceandspace.com/n...-satellite-has-left-airbus-defence-and-space/
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:

Cosmic Penguin

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Well....I missed it again, but there's not much to see either.

Anyway it's flying well right now with spacecraft separation about 4 hours away!

 
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