Facing unprecedented competition since its creation more than 35 years ago, the future of the queen of commercial space transportation looks as turbulent as it could be, with its market share starting to drop and its future replacement on shaky basis years before first flight. Yet no one can dispute that the Ariane 5 still holds as the number 1 LSP for any communication satellite waiting to be deployed into service.
After waiting for almost 5 months since its last flight - including two separate delays totalling 11 days due to 2 problems with connections to the upper stage - the first Ariane 5 launch of the year is now finally on the pad. Both passengers today are from European origins. On the upper deck is Thor 7 for the Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, which will serve as one of its major broadcasting asset for Scandinavia and most of Europe/Middle East. On the lower deck is the Italian lead SICRAL-2 for the Italian and French military, a new communication satellite that will boost capability for the two armed forces and NATO, complementing the French lead Athena-Fidus launched last year for the two nation's next generation milsatcom system.
More Ariane 5 flights are on the way with the next one already stacked for launch in late May. Arianespace certainly needs quicker turn-arounds to deal with their own satellite backlogs!
Launch location:
Kourou Launch pad ELA-3 5° 14'06.34"N, 52° 46'06.34"W
Launch dates and times:
Time Zone |
Paris /CEDT
|
Universal / UTC
|
Kourou / UTC-3
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Washington / EDT
|
Los Angeles / PDT
Launch time (Primary):
|
21:37:00
|
19:37:00
|
16:37:00
|
15:37:00
|
12:37:00
on:
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Apr. 26, 2015
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Apr. 26, 2015
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Apr. 26, 2015
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Apr. 26, 2015
|
Apr. 26, 2015
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[highlight][eventTimer]2015-04-26 19:37:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Ariane flight VA-222 Launch[/highlight]
Live Coverage Of The Launch:
- Arianespace: http://www.arianespace.tv/ (begins at 20 minutes before lift-off)
PAYLOAD 1
Thor 7 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
Telenor has selected SS/Loral in June 2011 to provide the Thor 7 telecommunications satellite.
Thor 7 will be based on SS/L’s LS-1300 series platform and fitted with two payloads.The first payload includes 11 active Ku band transponders, all of which will be used to serve growing broadcasting requirements within Central and Eastern Europe. It will also include further Ku band capability that will be utilised to provide restoration capacity for TSBc’s Thor fleet located at 1° West. The second is a Ka-band payload, fitted with spot beams covering in areas including the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, the Red Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. The Ka-band payload will address the surge in demand for high bandwidth requirements from the maritime industry and will deliver a bandwidth efficient service with high bit rates.
The spacecraft has a 28 month production schedule and will be built at Space Systems/Loral’s manufacturing facilities based in Palo Alto, California. Space Systems/Loral is responsible for the design, construction and test activities for Thor 7, which is expected to commence commercial service in Q1, 2014.
Parameter | Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
0.8° West
Coverage:
|
Scandinavia, Central Europe and Eastern Europe (Ku band); North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Red Sea, Baltic Sea, Persian Gulf and Mediterranean (Ka band)
ApA at separation:
|
35934 km
PeA at separation:
|
249.4 km
Inc at separation:
|
6°Thor 7
Customer:
|- Telenor
Prime contractor:
|- Space Systems/Loral
Platform:
|- LS-1300
Mass at Separation:
|- 4600 kg
Dry Mass:
|- ?
Stabilization:
|- 3 axis stabilized
Dimensions (stowed):
|- 4.7 x 3.4 x 2.7 m
Dimensions (deployed span):
|- 24.8 m
On-board power:
|- 9.9 kW at end of life
Communication Payload:
|- 21 Ku-band transponders
- 25 Ka-band transponders
Life time:
|- 15 years
Transponders coverage:
||
PAYLOAD 2
SICRAL-2 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
Thales Alenia Space Italia and Telespazio announced in may 2010 that they have signed a contract with the Italian Ministry of Defence and the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) for the development of the SICRAL 2 satellite and ground segment for military communications. The contract is worth about €295m in total, of which €193m relates to Thales Alenia Space and €102m to Telespazio.
Sicral 2 is a joint Italian-French programme based on a geostationary satellite operating in the UHF and SHF bands. It will enhance the “milsatcom” capabilities already offered by Italy’s Sicral 1 and Sicral 1B satellites, and France’s Syracuse-3 System.
The Sicral 2 Programme will primarily support satellite communications for the two countries’ armed forces, and is designed to meet the needs expected to develop in the near future. Like its predecessors, the new satellite and ground segment will provide strategic and tactical communications links for both domestic operations and foreign deployments. It supports all military, terrestrial, naval and aerial platforms, operating in a single integrated network.
The satellite will also ensure additional backup for current SHF-band capacity provided by Syracuse 3 and Sicral 1B intended for NATO communications, it being the system designed for seamless integration with today’s national and allied countries’ infrastructures.
To develop the Sicral 2 Programme, the two companies, Thales Alenia Space Italia (the Space Alliance between Finmeccanica and Thales) and Telespazio, have created a Temporary Group of Companies (TGC) headed by Thales Alenia Space Italia.
Specifically, Thales Alenia Space Italia is responsible for the design of the end-to-end communications system, the space segment, the design and assembly of the satellite, the design, development and assembly of the UHF and SHF payload for the Italian mission, and the architecture of the ground segment. Thales Alenia Space France will design and develop the platform, the SHF payload for the French mission (Syracuse 3C), and the Mission Control Centre in France.
Telespazio is responsible for satellite launch and early orbit services (LEOP – Launch and Early Orbit Phase) and for satellite first In-Orbit Tests (IOT). The company will also manage the building of the system’s ground segment.
Sicral 2 is based on a Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000 platform. Scheduled for launch in 2013, it will be positioned in geostationary orbit at 37 degrees East and have a design life of 15 years.
Parameter | Value
Working Orbit:
|
GEO
Orbital Location:
|
?
Coverage:
|
?
ApA at separation:
|
35934 km
PeA at separation:
|
249.4 km
Inc at separation:
|
6°SICRAL-2
Customer:
|- ASI
- CNES
Prime contractor:
|- Thales Alenia Space
Platform:
|- Spacebus-4000B3
Mass at Separation:
|- 4400 kg
Dry Mass:
|- ?
Stabilization:
|- 3-axis stabilized
Dimensions (stowed):
|- 5.5 x 2.2 x 3.1 m
Dimensions (deployed span):
|On-board power:
|- 7 kW at end of life
Payloads:
|- UHF-band transponders
- SHF-band transponders
Life time:
|- 15 years
Transponder coverage:
|- ?
|
Launch Vehicle:
Ariane 5 ECA
Prime contractor:
|- Airbus Defence and Space (ex-EADS Astrium)
Height:
| 50.5 m with upper stage and payload fairingDiameter:
| max 11.56 mLiftoff mass:
| 780 metric tonnesPayload 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/log2015.html#rate:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Ariane 5-ECA 46 47 .98 .96 46 12/11/02 2002-
Ariane VA222 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 start of the 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.
The fairing protecting the THOR 7 and SICRAL 2 spacecraft is jettisoned at T+200 seconds (once the Ariane 5 has climbed through the Earth’s dense atmospheric layers), and comes after the launcher’s boosters are jettisoned at approximately at T+142 seconds.
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 9,365 meters/second, and will be at an altitude of about 643.2 kilometers.
Ariane VA222 Ascent Timeline
Start of synchronized sequence|-00:07:00|19:30:00|
Ignition of the cryogenic main stage engine (EPC)|00:00:00|19:37:00|
Liftoff (Ignition of solid boosters)|00:00:07.3|19:37:07.3|
End of vertical climb and beginning of pitch rotation (10 seconds duration)|00:00:12.5|19:37:12.5|
Beginning of roll manoeuvre|00:00:17.0|19:37:17.0|
Jettisoning of solid boosters|00:02:22.1|19:39:22.1|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:03:20.0|19:40:20.0|
Shut-down of main cryogenic stage|00:08:50.2|19:45:50.2|
Separation of main cryogenic stage|00:08:56.2|19:45:56.2|
Ignition of upper cryogenic stage (ESC-A)|00:09:00.3|19:46:00.3|
End of first ESC-A thrust phase / Injection|00:24:52.5|20:01:52.5|
Separation of Thor 7 satellite|00:28:01.8|20:05:01.8|
Separation of Sylda 5|00:32:33.0|20:09:33.0|
Separation of SICRAL-2 satellite|00:34:22.6|20:11:22.6|
Weather forecast for Kourou, French Guiana on April 26, 2015 (4 p.m.)
Overcast with rain showers at times. High near 30C. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 km/h. Chance of rain 40%.
4 PM|28°C|23°C|73%|24%|0%|55%|1011 hPa|18 km/h ENE|
References
http://www.arianespace.com
http://www.arianespace.tv
http://www.telenorsat.com/
http://www.arianespace.com/images/launch-kits/launch-kit-pdf-eng/VA222-launchkit-EN.pdf
http://english.wunderground.com/q/zmw:00000.1.81403?
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://space.skyrocket.de
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