November 5, 2008: Astra-1M atop Proton-M / Briz-M

[SiberianTiger]

The ProtonM BreezeM launch vehicle with the Astra-1M satellite on board is scheduled to be launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 05.11.2008 at 20 h 44 m 20 s UTC (05.08.2008 23 h 44 m 20 s Moscow Local Time )

Program Preview

Consistent with the contract signed by the Khrunichev Space Center and International Launch Services, the spacecraft will blast off aboard a Proton-M rocket with its Breeze-M upper stage.
The upcoming launch will be the 48th commercial Proton mission with ILS. The maiden mission of the Proton vehicle in April 1996 delivered to orbit SES Astra’s Astra 1F.

Astra-1M Satellite

Astra-1M is a new telecommunications satellite owned SES ASTRA that will provide a full range of television broadcasting services, including HDTV and other advanced audiovisual as well as broadband services.
The Astra-1M spacecraft was built by EADS Astrium based on its flight-proven and state-oftheart Eurostar E3000 platform, the latest version of the Eurostar series, which became first part of the SES fleet with the Astra 2B spacecraft launched in September 2000.
Astra-1M carries 32 active Ku-band transponders covering the FSS and BSS frequency bands. The spacecraft will feature pan-European as well as Middle East and African coverage. The satellite is specified for a minimum service life of 15 years. It has a launch mass of 5,345 kilograms, and spacecraft power of 10 kW at end of life.
Astra-1M will replace Astra-1H and provide in-orbit backup capacity for the ASTRA fleet at 19.2° East. Following the successful launches of Astra 1KR and Astra 1L, Astra 2C was relocated from 19.2° to 28.2° East. According to SES ASTRA, this strategy provides additional capacity to meet the strong demand in the UK and Irish markets, driven by the expected growth of HDTV services.

Astra-1M Major Characteristics

Application  		Broadcasting
Orbit 			GEO
Orbit Position 		19.2° East
Operator 		SES ASTRA
Coverage 		Europe, North Africa, Middle East
Prime Contractor 	EADS Astrium
Platform 		Eurostar E3000
Design lifetime 	15 years +
Launch Mass 		5,345 kg
Main body Dimensions 	2.4 m x 2.9 m x 4 m
Solar Array Span 	35 m
Power at End of life 	10 kW

Astra-1M Payload Specifications

Band		  	Ku
Number of transponders 	32
Frequencies, GHz 	10,7-10,95; 11,45-11,7; 11,7-12,5
Payload power 		8 kW
Channel Bandwidths:
	FSS	 	26 MHz
	BSS 		33 MHz	
Antennas 		Two 2.4 meter diameter deployable reflectors.
			One 2.2 meter diameter deployable reflector

Proton-M Powered Flight

The Proton-M first three stages place the ascent unit (AU), which consists of a Breeze-M upper stage, adapter system and Astra-1M, into 51.5° inclination suborbital trajectory.
Six RD-275 engines ignite at approximately T–1.6 sec and are commanded to 50 % of nominal thrust. Thrust is increased to 100 % at T – 0 sec. Liftoff confirmation is signaled at T + 0.5 sec. The staged ignition sequence verifies whether all engines are functioning nominally before being committed to launch.
The launch vehicle ascends vertically for about 10 sec. Pitch control, engine ignition and cut-off times, payload fairing jettison times and attitude control are calculated in such a way that Proton-M worked-out stages fall onto nominal drop zones.
The first stage and the second stage separate 124 and 331 sec after liftoff, respectively.
346 seconds after liftoff the payload fairing is dropped on to the second stage booster drop zone. During jettison longitudinal and cross joint clamps unlock, fairing halves are unfolded by means of pushers, following which the halves are broken off. Once in the nominal orbit, the launch vehicle control system shuts down the steering engines, breaks mechanical links between the third and upper stages and ignites solid retro motors in order to withdraw the third stage jettisonable booster.
Proton-M powered flight lasts 585 seconds. The AU powered flight begins at the moment of the third stage separation.

Breeze-M Powered Flight

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 ascent 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.
The first burn occurs 96 sec after the separation from the rocket, forming a support orbit.
The second burn transfers the ascent unit to an intermediate orbit. The third and fourth burns form a transfer orbit with an apogee close to that of the target orbit. The additional propellant unit is jettisoned during the gap between the third and the fourth burns. The target geotransfer orbit is formed by the fifth burn performed by in the transfer orbit apogee.
Once in the target orbit, the ascent unit is stabilized for Astra-1M separation, following which the satellite is released.
After the craft separation GTO parameters are measured, and the upper stage is withdrawn to drift in a safe mode (pressure in all the containers is dropped).
The Breeze-M powered flight lasts 33,100 seconds (9 hours 11 minutes 40 seconds).

Watching the launch live

1. International Launch Services streaming video - Starts at 15:15 US ET (20:15 GMT) Nov. 5th

2. Khrunichev Space Centre's Multimedia Launch Viewing Facility with real time transmission of flight data - user registration required (but it's free of charge).


-----Posted Added-----


Here's one more streaming video link for this launch:
http://vyvxems.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/vyvxems/42700/300_vyvxems-ils091808_080912.asx

Starting at 23:15 MST (20:15 UTC)


-----Posted Added-----


All the launch operations have been accomplished fine, the payload is in the target orbit.

Target orbit.Preliminary orbit parameter estimation per US "Breeze-M"

MDT of orbit.parameters ( day.month.year hour:min:sec) - 06.11.2008 08:56:00

№	Parameter	Estimation	Nominal		Deviation	Limit		Comment
1	T [h.m.s]	12:6:8.5	12:6:8.8	0:0:0.2		-----------	-------------------
2	a [km]		26761.35	26761.45	0.09		-----------	-------------------
3	e		0.5755509	0.5755450	0.0000059	-----------	-------------------
4	i		21 °29 '39 "	21 °30 '2 "	0 °0 '24 "	-----------	-------------------
5	Hp [km]		4980.69		4980.89		0.20		-----------	-------------------
6	Ha [km]		35785.74	35785.73	0.01		-----------	-------------------

You can see the video replay of the launch at:
http://tvroscosmos.ru/frm/kosmostv/vesti/vesti051108.php

Congrats to Khrunichev guys on another accomplishment.

 

[nathan3011]

Hey my friend jsut wanted tot hank you for this it is brilliant!! I'll watch the replay of Business Insurance when i get home cos i'm currently at work but yeah what i'll do is when i get home i'll watch the replay and look at the flight data

Just wanted to drop you a quick thank you!!

 

[SiberianTiger]

Just wanted to drop you a quick thank you!!

You're welcome!