Friday, June 3, 2016

Eutelsat W4

 2000-028A


W4 is an Alcatel Spacebus 3000B2 ordered late 1997. It will fly to 36E and provide coverage of Russia (19 transponders) and sub-Saharan Africa. Its transponders are slightly lower power than W2 and W3, but it has more of them. Launch by first Atlas 3A, with 14' fairing.

Launch mass 3190 kg. The Centaur 3A has an RL10A-4-1B single engine. BOL mass around 1900 kg? Dry mass is 1285 kg.


 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

2000 May 24  2310 Atlas 3A AC-201  CC LC36B 
  T+3:02 RD-180 BECO 
  T+3:13 Atlas sep 
  T+3:23 RL10 nozzle extended 
  T+3:31 Centaur 3A MES-1 
  T+3:39 Fairing sep
  T+12:15 MECO-1  188 x 486 km x 26.8  
  T+22:39 MES-2 
  T+26:15 MECO-2 
 2338  T+28:53 Centaur sep  835.37 230 x 45777 x 19.9  
2000 May 26  1030? LAM-1  940.93 5100 x 45759 x 11.1  
2000 May 28  0930? LAM-2  1338.02 21888 x 45800 x 2.4 
2000 May 31  0430? LAM-3 (?)  1620.47 32872 x 45771 x 0.2 
2000 Jun 1  0700? LAM-4  1397.03 34163 x 35873 x 0.1 
2000 Jun 3  1230? LAM-5  1434.60 35497 x 36017 x 0.1 
2000 Jun 13    1436.06 35784 x 35787 x 0.1 GEO 32.0E 
2000 Jul 11   Arrive at 36E 
2000 Aug 12    1436.07 35774 x 35797 x 0.0 GEO 36.0E 
2006 Aug 3    1436.07 35773 x 35798 x 0.1 GEO 36.1E 
2012 Mar 1   Renamed EUTELSAT 36A 
2016 Feb 21    1436.07 35768 x 35803 x 0.1 GEO 35.9E 
2016 Feb 25   Move out 
2016 Apr 4   Move in 70E 
2016 May 18    1436.10 35760 x 35813 x 0.2 GEO 70.5E 

Cluster 1

2000-041A


Cluster FM7 (C3) was launched with FM6.

Each of the 4 wire booms extends to 43m long.

In early 2001, the vehicles studies the polar cusp. In May 2001, the spacecraft began to increase their separation distance from 600 to 2000 km, to study larger features in the magnetotail.

In Feb 2004, the Cluster spacing was 250 km to study small structures.

In early 2007 the spacing was 450 km between Samba and Tango, and 10000 km to Rumba and Salsa. The spacing was shrunk further and on 2007 Jun 20, Samba and Tango reached a 17 km separation.


Cluster FM7 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

2000 Jul 16    321.30 250 x 18072 x 64.68 
2000 Jul 17  1121:01  Burn 1  422.67 245 x 24311 x 64.88 
2000 Jul 18  0833  Burn 2  616.81 241 x 35007 x 65.10 
2000 Jul 19  0515  TCM-3 10 min  241 x 57010 x 65.1 
2000 Jul 19  2325  TCM-4 10 min  246 x 119523 x 64.9 
2000 Jul 21  0004  TCM over VILSPA 16869 x 121098 x 90 
2000 Oct   Boom deploy 
2001 May 10   Manuevers begin 
2006   C3 and C4 moved to similar orbits 
2010 Jul 21  1923  TCM 
2010 Jul 30  2040  TCM 
2010 Sep 2  1919  TCM 
2010 Sep 7  0754  TCM 
2013 Jul 15   New close formation 
2015 Nov 1   Samba burn to move closer to Tango 
2015 Nov   Samba and Tango within 4 km 

Payload:

  • WBD Wideband data analyser, E field to 100 kHz

  • EFW Electric field and wave, 50 m antennae

  • STAFF Spatio temporal analysis of field fluctuation

  • FGM Fluxgate magnetometer

  • EDI Electron drift instrument

  • PEACE Plasma electron and current experiment

  • CIS Cluster Ion spectrometer

  • RAPID Research with adaptive particle imaging detectors

  • WHISPER Waves of high frequency and sounder for probing of electron density by relaxation;

  • DWP Digital wave processor

  • ASPOC Active spacecraft potential control experiment.

2000-041B


Cluster FM6/C2 is the first of three brand-new replacement Cluster satellites. It was launched with FM7 in Jun 2000.

Cluster has 4 50-m wire antennae, two 5-m rigid booms, 2 axial comm antenna booms. 550 kg dry, 650 kg prop, 1.3 h, 2.9dia. The spacecraft spins at 50 rpm.

Fregat had thrust of 19.6 kN with Isp of 328.5s. Taking the upper values, a 3:45 initial burn corresponds with a prop burn rate of 19.6/3.22 = 6.08 kg/s to 1367 kg. The 9:42 second burn is 3538 kg for a total fuel use excluding deorbit burn of 4905 kg. In fact the nominal prop load was 5350 kg for Fregat,

Mass 6450 full 1100 kg dry, with payload 2400 kg.

Burn 1: 8850 to 7483 kg Est Dv = 540 Burn 2: 7483 to 3945 kg Est Dv = 2061 Actual Dv = 1940? Burn 3: 1545 to 1100 kg Est Dv = 1094

So the burn 2 values agree quite well.

Actual info found in another doc for mission 2

Burn 1: 7837 to 6810 kg est DV = 452 Burn 2: 6810 to 3840 est DV = 1845 Burn 3: 1440 to 1261 est DV = 427, actual DV less

In May 2001, the spacecraft began to increase their separation distance from 600 to 2000 km.

Note that the early TLE orbit data for FM6 and FM8 are swapped.


Cluster FM6 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

2000 Jul 16  1239:34  Launch by Soyuz/Fregat  KB 
 1241:34  Strapons sep 
 1242  Fairing 
 1244:24 Blok-A sep 
 1244:24 Blok-I burn  
  Fairing sep 
  Blok-I MECO  SO x 64.8 
  T+8:48 Blok-I sep  -1120? x 217 x 64.8 
 1249 T+8:50? Fregat burn 1 3:45 
 1251 Fregat MECO-1  217 x 217 x 64.8 
 1257?  Blok I reentry 
 1355:42 T+1:15:00 Fregat burn 2, 9:42 
 1403 Fregat MECO-2  251 x 18050 x 64.8 
 1410 S+0 FM7 sep 
 1410 S+10s FM6 sep 
2000 Jul 16    321.54 259 x 18078 x 64.81 
2000 Jul 16  1640?  Fregat deorbit at apogee 
2000 Jul 16  1916?  Fregat reentry  -47? x 18058 x 64.8  
2000 Jul 17  1121:00  Apogee raise 1, 10:33  
 1131   424.06 247 x 24390 x 64.89 
2000 Jul 18  0828 Apo raise 2  625.10 261 x 35417 x 65.10 
2000 Jul 19  0508 Apo raise 3  250 x 56677 x 64.9  
2000 Jul 19  2259  TCM-4  246 x 119523 x 64.9 
2000 Jul 20  2302  TCM-5 18min over PERTH  16869 x 121098 x 90.5 (ESA) 
2000 Jul 20   ASPOC and CIS covers open 
2000 Jul 22    16714 x 121090 x 90.48 
2000 Sep 5   Boom deploy begin to 15m 
2000 Sep 11  Deploy to 35m 
2000 Sep 20  Deploy to 43m 
2001 May 10   Manuevers begin 
2006   Move to tetrahedral config 
2010 Jul 20  2020  TCM 
2010 Jul 30  2035  TCM 
2010 Aug 5  1555  TCM 
2010 Aug 12  1055  TCM 
2010 Aug 20  0441  TCM 
2010 Sep 2  1821  TCM 
2010 Sep 7  0655 TCM 
2016 Feb 2   TCM

Monday, May 30, 2016

USA-147

 1999-067A


The first 5D-3, S-15 (F-15 after launch) launched by Titan II in Oct 1999. It was placed in a 0915/2115LT orbit, later than earlier missions to help tactical operations. F-15 replaced F-12 and F-14 in one of the two DMSP planes. S-15 used the 5D-3 bus but carried the old 5D-2 payload complement.

By the time 5D-3 was launched, DMSP was operated by NOAA although managed by USAF SMC. NOAA SOCC/Suitland, MD checks out the spacecraft. It's turned over to the NPOESS IPO (Nat. Polar Orbiting Env Satellite System Integrated Program Office), which delegates operations back to the NOAA OSO (Office of Satellite Operations). Mass was 1030 kg. Size was 7.3m long.

According to Jane's Spaceflight Directory, the 5D-3 was intended to carry a "Star 37FP" apogee motor with a 19 percent offload. This may be the same as the Star 37XFP.


DMSP F-15 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1999 Dec 12 1738:01 Launch by Titan II  V SLC4W 
  T+2:45 Stage 1 sep 
  T+4:00? Fairing sep 
 1743:41 T+5:40 Stage 2 MECO 
 1744:15 T+6:14 Stage 2 sep 
 1751:38 T+13:37 Star 37 burn 
 1752:29 T+14:28 Star 37 burnout 
 1757:31 T+19:30 Solar array deploy 
 1805?  Stage 2 reentry 
1999 Dec 19    101.81 837 x 851 x 98.9 
2003 Nov   Secondary status 
2006 Aug 14   orbit adjust 
2007 Apr 29   101.69 833 x 843 x 98.5 
2007 Jul   Still operating
2016 Mar   Secondary operational sat at 0240 LT 

May 13,2026

  https://planet4589.org/space/jsr/back/news.855.txt