Launch News Triple GLONASS atop Proton-M / Block-DM2 on September 1/2, 2010

[SiberianTiger]

Launch site:
Baikonur Launch pad no. 81/24 46° 4'15.38"N, 62°59'5.11"E
Launch date: September 1/2, 2010

The launch time is:
06 : 53 : 50 Baikonur 02.09.2010
04 : 53 : 50 Moscow Summer 02.09.2010
00 : 53 : 50 UTC Sep 2, 2010
8 : 53 : 50 p.m. EDT Sep 1, 2010


[eventTimer]2010-09-02 00:53:50?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] the triple Glonass Launch

Payload: Triple GLONASS-M (Uragan-M) Navigation satellites

Spacecraft: GLONASS-M

Manufacturer: JCS "Information Satellite Systems" Reshetnev Company (NPO PM)

The GLONASS-M version of the satellite featured improved antennas, extended lifetime and the introduction of a separate transmission frequency dedicated to civilian users.

GLONASS-M specifications

Parameter|Value
Mass|1570 kg
Orbit|Middle-High Circular
Design Lifetime|7 years
Power Supply|1400 W
Launch Mass|5.6 tons

The launch will be done to replenish the satellite complement in the Plane II. Read the story: http://orbiter-forum.com/showpost.php?p=201477&postcount=4

Launcher: Proton-M with Block-DM2 upper stage

Parameter|Value
Rocket Family|Proton
Designation|8K82M
Class|Heavy
Type|Expendable
Designer|Salut Design Bureau
Manufacturer|Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Stages|4
Height, mm|42340
Diameter, mm|7400
Launch Mass, kg|700000

Proton-M / Block DM-2 upper stage is a combination used solely for delivering Glonass satellites.

It is a replacement launcher for this launch, because the originally intended one got into a train accident earlier this summer.


The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/reliability2010.txt (plus 0.03 reliability):

================================================================ 
Vehicle     Successes/Tries Realzd Pred  Consc. Last     Dates     
                             Rate  Rate* Succes Fail     
================================================================ 
Proton-M/DM-2     5     5   1.00  .86      5    None     2007-

Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on September 2, 2010

Hi: 31°C
Lo: 14°C
Day: Sunny. Warm. Temperature of 31°C. Winds NE 23km/h. Humidity will be 43% with a dewpoint of 17° and feels-like temperature of 32°C.

Night: Clear. Mild. Temperature of 14°C. Winds ENE 26km/h. Humidity will be 58% with a dewpoint of 6° and feels-like temperature of 14°C.

Sunrise/Sunset and associated twilight times for Baikonur on Thursday, September 2, 2010

Times are local.

Event|Time
Astronomical twilight begins|05 : 22
Nautical twilight begins|06 : 01
Civil twilight begins|06 : 38
Sunrise|07 : 07
Transit (sun is at its highest)|13 : 46
Sunset|20 : 24
Civil twilight ends|20 : 53
Nautical twilight ends|21 : 30
Astronomical twilight ends|22 : 10

Watching the launch live

• TSENKI Video Streams: http://www.tv-tsenki.com/livechoose.php (coverage since 23:00 (9/1) till 02:00 (9/2) UTC)

References
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.iss-reshetnev.ru/
http://www.khrunichev.ru
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/
http://www.glonass-ianc.rsa.ru
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://weatherbug.com
http://www.good-stuff.co.uk/suntimes/sunmap.php

 

[SiberianTiger]

Launch preparations history in pictures:

Aug 5, 2010: assembling the launch vehicle from transportable parts:

Aug 20, 2010: Satellite cluster with the Block-DM2 upper stage is mounted on the Proton and is ready to be enshrouded into payload fairing:

Aug 30, 2010: Transporting to the launch pad and erection:

Launch preparations history in videos:

Prepping a satellite

The rocket's 1st stage core

Assembling the rocket's 1st stage core and strap-ons

 

[orb]

If someone wants to request a reminder for this launch, there's this calendar event.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Roscosmos PAO: State Board: 'Go' for Proton-M Tanking.

State Board meeting at Baikonur concluded about launch readiness of Proton-M rocket with three Glonass-M spacecraft. Proton’s pre-tanking began at 20:30,to be followed by oxidizer/fuel tanking later on tonight.
Proton-M/DM-2 with a cluster of three Glonass-M’s are to lift off at 04.53.50, Sept. 2.

 

[SiberianTiger]

After launch at 04:53:50 MSK (00:53:50 UTC), the upper composite will separate from the vehicle at 05:03 MSK (01:03 UTC) and will finish orbital transfers and separate the three satellites at 08:25 MSK (04:25 UTC).

Godspeed, птички! Let you shine like guiding stars for all travelers.

---------- Post added at 11:56 ---------- Previous post was at 02:20 ----------

http://www.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=1&nid=600

GLONASS M Navigation Triplets Launched Successfully by Proton M

02.09.2010
A Proton M launch vehicle has successfully delivered to orbit three Russian navigation satellites to supplement the GLONASS M constellation.
The lift-off of the launcher took place today at 04:53:50 MSK.
The Proton Stage 3 and the Orbiter (i.e., the Upper Stage carrying the three spacecraft) separated at the predicted time for the Orbiter to continue its independent flight. Subsequently, a DM Upper Stage boosted the Orbiter to the target orbit. The triplets separated from DM at 08:26 MSK.
The Proton M launch vehicle is developed and designed and has been manufactured for a number of years by the Khrunichev State-run Space Research and Production Center.
In 2010, the above event is an eighth Proton mission and a second one to launch GLONASS satellites. (GLONASS stands for the Global Navigation Satellite System.) GLONASS M triplets were successfully launched for the first time this year on March 2.
Additionally, this is a tenth 2010 spacecraft launch using one of the Khrunichev-built launchers, which include the Proton, Kosmos 3M and Rockot families. The ten missions have resulted in a successful placement of 14 domestic or foreign spacecraft in orbit.
The next Proton mission scheduled for October 14 is to launch SIRIUS XM5, a U.S. communications satellite.

As an amusement note, one of Russian electronic newspapers reported that this morning "Space freighter Progress M-07M together with a cluster of three Glonass-M satellites was launched on Proton-M rocket" and that the Progress would dock to the ISS on September 10th. :rofl:

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Group of navigation satellites launched by Proton rocket:

The Proton rocket launched at 0053 GMT Thursday (8:53 p.m. EDT Wednesday) from pad 81 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the first pink hues of sunrise splashed the dawn sky.

With six main engines burning, the Proton soared into mostly clear skies and jettisoned its first stage two minutes after liftoff. The three-stage rocket deployed a Block DM upper stage and the three Glonass payloads in space less than 10 minutes into the mission.

The Block DM was expected to fire twice to place the Glonass satellites in a circular orbit 12,000 miles above Earth with an inclination of 64.8 degrees.

Spacecraft separation occurred at 0426 GMT (12:26 a.m. EDT) in the targeted orbit, according to the Russian Space Agency.

...

--------

A"Space freighter Progress M-07M together with a cluster of three Glonass-M satellites was launched on Proton-M rocket" and that the Progress would dock to the ISS on September 10th. :rofl:

:rofl:
However, the novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru server, to which you posted link is currently down, so I can't laugh at the source.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Spaceflight Now: Group of navigation satellites launched by Proton rocket:--------

:rofl:
However, the novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru server, to which you posted link is currently down, so I can't laugh at the source.

The real source is here: http://gazeta.ru/news/lastnews/2010/09/02/n_1541926.shtml, but I posted a link for an NK entry because I'm afraid gazeta.ru would soon correct this funny news posting and the source as such would disappear. But it should be remain quoted at NK (which is quite up for me, by the way).

 

[orb]

I posted a link for an NK entry because I'm afraid gazeta.ru would soon correct this funny news posting and the source as such would disappear.

No problem. I took a screenshot. If someone can read Cyrillic from a picture, and they understand Russian, they can laugh at it in my album, here.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Video of the launch:

 

[N_Molson]

As an amusement note, one of Russian electronic newspapers reported that this morning "Space freighter Progress M-07M together with a cluster of three Glonass-M satellites was launched on Proton-M rocket" and that the Progress would dock to the ISS on September 10th.

I'm sure there's a way to do that with Throton's Proton LV 2.2 :lol:

Amazing launch ! Love that rocket !

 

[SiberianTiger]

I'm sure there's a way to do that with Throton's Proton LV 2.2 :lol:

Would a Progress crush the sats, or the sats would crush Progress in the real life? :lol: Also, the Progress would have to bang the driver's door and scream: "Please stop! I'm gotta quit here!" in the middle of the way! :rofl: Holy !

 

[N_Molson]

"Uh Houston we just got an unscheduled Progress with 3 GLONASS satellites strapped to it... What are we supposed to do with them, decorate the station ?" :rofl:

 

[SiberianTiger]

And some launch pictures from Roscosmos website (ordered up to down by time of shooting):

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

У нас есть взлет! (We have liftoff!)

Great news!

 

[SiberianTiger]

У нас есть взлет! (We have liftoff!)

Great news!

More correctly: Есть контакт подъёма! :thumbup:

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Roscosmos PAO: "Chairman of the Russian Government Vladimir Putin: 'I am Pleased to Say that We have Launched Three More GLONASS Spacecraft Today'".

Opening the meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Government on Sept. 2, Chairman of the Russian Government said that he was pleased to inform the Presidium about success of the morning launch of three more spacecraft for GLONASS constellation.
GLONASS currently comprises 21 satellites maintaining nominal operations of the system. The three spacecraft launched on Sept. 2 are to be commissioned on Oct. 17. Two more spacecraft will provide orbital redundancy.
"In the nearest future, three more GLONASS satellites will be launched, and one more in December. Thus, there will be 30 satellites in the constellation, with two as redundant, which are to maintain global coverage", Russian Prime Minister added.
First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Sergey Ivanov confirmed that 30 GLONASS satellites are to be lofted on Nov. 30. Glonass-K, to fly in December, is a new-generation spacecraft with extended lifetime of 10 years.
Vladimir Putin also stated that the GLONASS signal was stable during his recent ride in Amur region.
Ivanov also explained that proper state of the orbital constellation had been reached, and now ground issues are to be fixed in order to make the system useful for national economy.
Relevant actions were given to various ministries and authorities during the recent meeting chaired by Putin.

 

[N_Molson]

Well, it's always hard to know what is really said behind the Kremlin Wall but that program seems very successful :thumbup:

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Roscosmos PAO: "Orbital Operations with Glonass-M Satellites".

For three Glonass-M satellites developed by Resehtnev ISS company successfully launched on Sept. 2, orbital tests of their service systems have been completed.
Currently, the satellites undergo adjustment in order to bring them into the targeted orbital positions. This operation has been finished for satellite 36 on Sept 20. The other two, №37 and №38, are to reach their positions by the end of Sept. In 8-10 days, following completions of the payload tests, the satellites are to begin their nominal orbital operations.
Telemetry data from Glonass satellites are acquired in the Control Center in Krasnoznamensk and processed with the help of the ISS’ experts.
ISS also continues work with the new-generation Glonass-K satellite, to be launch in late 2010.