Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
Breaking news: I have run out of ideas on how to start a launch thread about a Proton launch. :rofl:
Well given that one flies roughly once a month (and will be even more frequently later on when several Russian federal launches come later this year), this is not a surprise at all. However there are still some unusual aspects about this launch: it will happen during daytime (not that usual these days!), and the satellite will be pushed to a very high super-synchronous transfer orbit (apogee 65000 km) (despite the satellite being a 6100 kg big fellow!), making the launch an extremely long 15.5 hours mission! This is the second time such a high orbit been used for a commercial Proton launch, after Intelsat 22 in March 2012.
This is the 4th commercial mission of the year for ILS and the 81st ILS Proton mission since the first commercial flight of the Proton in April 1996.
This is the 22nd SES satellite launched with Proton and the 16th Astrium-built satellite launched on Proton.
Launch location:
Baikonur Launch pad no. 200/39 46° 2'23.85"N, 63° 1'54.98"E
Launch dates and times:
[table="head"]{colsp=6}Launch times
Time Zone|
{colsp=6}
[/table]
Live Coverage Of The Launch:
PAYLOAD
SES-6 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
SES World Skies ordered in May 2010 the SES 6 hybrid satellite from EADS Astrium for delivery in 2013. It will replace the aging NSS 806 satellite
SES-6 will offer 50 percent more C-Band capacity for the cable community, and retain the unique capability to distribute content between the Americas and Europe on the same high powered beam. In addition SES-6 will offer a substantial upgrade to Ku-Band capacity in the region with dedicated high power beams over Brazil, South cone, the Andean region, North America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, while also offering an innovative payload to support mobile maritime and aeronautical services on the highly demanded routes from North America, the Gulf of Mexico, across the north Atlantic and to Europe.
With 43 C-Band and 48 Ku-Band 36 MHz equivalent transponders (38 C-Band and 36 Ku-Band physical transponders) the 6,000 kilogram satellite is expected to be launched in early 2013 and will have a design life of 15 years. It is built on the Eurostar-3000 bus.
The new SES-6 satellite, which is nearly twice as large as NSS-806, will have a total of five steerable Ku-band beams, including four beams for the Americas and one beam covering the Atlantic ocean region.
[table="head"]{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter|Value
[/table]
[table="head"]Characteristics|
|
[/table]
Launch Vehicle:
[table="head"]{colsp=2}Characteristics
|[table="head"]{colsp=2}
[/table]
[/table]
The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2013.html#rate:
SES-6 Ascent Profile
The Proton-M first three stages place the orbital unit (OU), which consists of a Breeze-M upper stage, adapter system and SeS-6, 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.
SES-6 Ascent Timeline
[TABLE="head"]Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Comment
Ignition Start Sequence|-00:00:02.5|09:18:28.5|
Stage 1 Ignition (40% thrust)|-00:00:01.75|09:18:29.25|
Command Stage 1 (100% thrust)|-00:00:00.9|09:18:30.1|
Maximum Dynamic Pressure|00:01:02|09:19:33|
1st/2nd Stage Separation|00:02:00|09:20:31|
2nd/3rd Stage Separation|00:05:27|09:23:58|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:05:47|09:24:18|
3rd Stage/Breeze M Separation|00:09:42|09:28:13|
1st Burn Ignition|00:11:16|09:29:47|
1st Burn Shutdown|00:15:43|09:34:14|1st Burn's Duration 00:04:27
2nd Burn Ignition|01:50:30|11:09:01|
2nd Burn Shutdown|02:10:04|11:28:35|2nd Burn's Duration 00:19:34
3rd Burn Ignition|04:23:49|13:42:20|
3rd Burn Shutdown|04:33:15|13:51:46|3rd Burn's Duration 00:09:26
APT Jettison|04:34:05|13:52:36|
4th Burn Ignition|04:35:32|13:54:03|
4th Burn Shutdown|04:43:57|14:02:28|4th Burn's Duration 00:08:25
5th Burn Ignition|15:15:05|00:33:36|
5th Burn Shutdown|15:18:39|00:37:10|5th Burn's Duration 00:03:34
Spacecraft Separation|15:31:00|00:49:31|
[/TABLE]
Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on June 3, 2013 (3 p.m.)
Clear. High of 32C. Windy. Winds from the WNW at 20 to 30 km/h.
Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
2 PM|30°C|8°C|24%|0%|0%|0%|1002 hPa|24 km/h WNW|
Clear
References
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.khrunichev.ru
http://www.ilslaunch.com
http://tihiy.fromru.com/Rn/RN_Proton.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ses-6.htm
http://www.ses.com
http://www.tsenki.com
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://english.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=44.84999847,65.50000000
Well given that one flies roughly once a month (and will be even more frequently later on when several Russian federal launches come later this year), this is not a surprise at all. However there are still some unusual aspects about this launch: it will happen during daytime (not that usual these days!), and the satellite will be pushed to a very high super-synchronous transfer orbit (apogee 65000 km) (despite the satellite being a 6100 kg big fellow!), making the launch an extremely long 15.5 hours mission! This is the second time such a high orbit been used for a commercial Proton launch, after Intelsat 22 in March 2012.
This is the 4th commercial mission of the year for ILS and the 81st ILS Proton mission since the first commercial flight of the Proton in April 1996.
This is the 22nd SES satellite launched with Proton and the 16th Astrium-built satellite launched on Proton.
Launch location:
Baikonur Launch pad no. 200/39 46° 2'23.85"N, 63° 1'54.98"E
Launch dates and times:
[table="head"]{colsp=6}Launch times
Time Zone|
Baikonur / UTC+6
| Moscow / UTC+4
| Universal / UTC
| Washington / EDT
| Los Angeles / PDT
Launch time (Primary):
|15:18:31
|13:18:31
|09:18:31
|05:18:31
|02:18:31
on:
|Jun. 3, 2013
|Jun. 3, 2013
|Jun. 3, 2013
|Jun. 3, 2013
|Jun. 3, 2013
{colsp=6}
[highlight][eventTimer]2013-06-03 09:18:31?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] SES-6 Launch[/highlight]
[/table]
Live Coverage Of The Launch:
- International Launch Services: http://ses6.imgondemand.com/ (begins at 20 minutes before lift-off)
- TSENKI Video Streams: http://www.tv-tsenki.com/livechoose.php
- Khrunichev COOPI (login: ? password: ?): http://coopi.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=200
- Owners of PDA can watch the launch in test mode on: http://www.space-center.ru
PAYLOAD
SES-6 communication satellite:
Mission Summary
SES World Skies ordered in May 2010 the SES 6 hybrid satellite from EADS Astrium for delivery in 2013. It will replace the aging NSS 806 satellite
SES-6 will offer 50 percent more C-Band capacity for the cable community, and retain the unique capability to distribute content between the Americas and Europe on the same high powered beam. In addition SES-6 will offer a substantial upgrade to Ku-Band capacity in the region with dedicated high power beams over Brazil, South cone, the Andean region, North America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, while also offering an innovative payload to support mobile maritime and aeronautical services on the highly demanded routes from North America, the Gulf of Mexico, across the north Atlantic and to Europe.
With 43 C-Band and 48 Ku-Band 36 MHz equivalent transponders (38 C-Band and 36 Ku-Band physical transponders) the 6,000 kilogram satellite is expected to be launched in early 2013 and will have a design life of 15 years. It is built on the Eurostar-3000 bus.
The new SES-6 satellite, which is nearly twice as large as NSS-806, will have a total of five steerable Ku-band beams, including four beams for the Americas and one beam covering the Atlantic ocean region.
[table="head"]{colsp=2}Summary
Parameter|Value
Working Orbit:
|GEOOrbital Location:
|40.5° WestCoverage:
|North America, Latin America, the Caribbeans, Europe, Atlantic Ocean regionApA at separation:
|65000 kmPeA at separation:
|4482 kmInc at separation:
|26.3°[/table]
[table="head"]Characteristics|
SES-6
Customer:
|- SES S.A.
Prime contractor:
|- EADS Astrium
Platform:
|- Eurostar E3000
Mass at Separation:
|- 6140 kg
Dry Mass:
|- ?
Stabilization:
|- 3 axis stabilized
Dimensions (stowed):
|- 3.45 x 3.27 x 7.65 m
Batteries:
|- ?
Payload:
|- 48 Ku-band transponders
- 43 C-band transponders
Life time:
|- 15 years
Coverage:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Launch Vehicle:
[table="head"]{colsp=2}Characteristics
Proton-M / Briz-M
Prime contractor:
|- Khrunichev Space Centre
GRAU Index:
|- 8K82KM
Height:
| 58.2 m with upper stage and payload fairingDiameter:
| max 7.4 mLiftoff mass:
| 705 metric tonnesPayload mass:
| ~22 tonnes at LEO1st 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:
|
- 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
[/table]
[/table]
The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2013.html#rate:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Proton-M/Briz-M 59 65 .91 .90 3 12/08/12 2001-SES-6 Ascent Profile
The Proton-M first three stages place the orbital unit (OU), which consists of a Breeze-M upper stage, adapter system and SeS-6, 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.
SES-6 Ascent Timeline
[TABLE="head"]Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Comment
Ignition Start Sequence|-00:00:02.5|09:18:28.5|
Stage 1 Ignition (40% thrust)|-00:00:01.75|09:18:29.25|
Command Stage 1 (100% thrust)|-00:00:00.9|09:18:30.1|
Maximum Dynamic Pressure|00:01:02|09:19:33|
1st/2nd Stage Separation|00:02:00|09:20:31|
2nd/3rd Stage Separation|00:05:27|09:23:58|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:05:47|09:24:18|
3rd Stage/Breeze M Separation|00:09:42|09:28:13|
1st Burn Ignition|00:11:16|09:29:47|
1st Burn Shutdown|00:15:43|09:34:14|1st Burn's Duration 00:04:27
2nd Burn Ignition|01:50:30|11:09:01|
2nd Burn Shutdown|02:10:04|11:28:35|2nd Burn's Duration 00:19:34
3rd Burn Ignition|04:23:49|13:42:20|
3rd Burn Shutdown|04:33:15|13:51:46|3rd Burn's Duration 00:09:26
APT Jettison|04:34:05|13:52:36|
4th Burn Ignition|04:35:32|13:54:03|
4th Burn Shutdown|04:43:57|14:02:28|4th Burn's Duration 00:08:25
5th Burn Ignition|15:15:05|00:33:36|
5th Burn Shutdown|15:18:39|00:37:10|5th Burn's Duration 00:03:34
Spacecraft Separation|15:31:00|00:49:31|
[/TABLE]
Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on June 3, 2013 (3 p.m.)
Clear. High of 32C. Windy. Winds from the WNW at 20 to 30 km/h.
2 PM|30°C|8°C|24%|0%|0%|0%|1002 hPa|24 km/h WNW|
References
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.khrunichev.ru
http://www.ilslaunch.com
http://tihiy.fromru.com/Rn/RN_Proton.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ses-6.htm
http://www.ses.com
http://www.tsenki.com
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://english.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=44.84999847,65.50000000
