Archive Photo of Long March 3B
launch. Photo Credit: China Daily
China has begun its busy year of
space launches with a flawless liftoff of the Belintersat-1 telecommunications satellite
from the LC3 launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, located in
Sichuan Province. The mission commenced at 11:57 EST (16:57 GMT) on Friday,
Jan. 15, when a Long March 3B rocket ignited its four boosters and started a
short vertical ascent.
Photo Credit: Belintersat
Burning its core stage’s engines,
the rocket began to pitch over and roll, heading southeast, shortly after liftoff.
The shutdown of the boosters occurred about two minutes and 20 seconds into the
flight and they were jettisoned about one minute later. Then, the vehicle
continued its mission powered by the core stage alone, equipped in one
four-chamber engine, until its separation about two minutes and 40 seconds
after the launch.
The second stage moved the mission
forward, burning its engines for approximately three minutes, until the
rocket’s third stage took over control of the flight. Burning liquid hydrogen
and oxygen, the vehicle’s third stage, fitted with one YF-75 engine, headed
towards the deployment of its payload. The Belintersat-1 satellite separated
from the launch vehicle about 26 minutes after liftoff and was delivered into a
geostationary orbit (GEO) at 51.5 degrees East.
The spacecraft will be operated by
the Belarusian government’s company Belintersat for up to
15 years. It is expected provide a wide range of telecommunication services,
including satellite TV and radio broadcasting and broadband internet access.
Belintersat-1 was built by the China
Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The car-sized satellite has dimensions
of 7.9 by 6.9 by 11.8 feet (2.4 by 2.1 by 3.6 meters) and weighs about 5.2
tons. It is based on CASC’s DFH-4 bus consisting of propulsion module, service
modules and solar arrays spanning 72 feet (22 meters) when fully deployed in
space.
The DFH-4 platform can be used in
high capacity broadcast communications satellite, new generation direct
broadcasting satellite, new generation tracking and data relay satellite,
regional mobile communications satellite. It is a large telecommunications
satellite platform of new generation, keeping high capability in output power
and communication capacity ranking with international advanced satellite
platforms. The DFH-4 bus can be outfitted with C, Ku, Ka and L transponders.
The satellite is equipped in 20
C-band and 18 Ku-band transponders delivered by Thales Alenia Space. 34 of them
are 36 MHz and 4 are 54 MHz-bandwidth to provide a full set of
telecommunication services. The spacecraft has an output power of 10.15 W.
Belintersat-1 was built to provide a
full range of advanced satellite services in Europe, Africa and Asia, as well
as ensure global coverage in the Eastern Hemisphere. The spacecraft is part of
Belarusian National System of Satellite Communication and Broadcast – the
largest project in the field of telecommunications, implemented by this
country. The program was designed to provide telecommunication services for
governmental and commercial clients both in Belarus and overseas.
Belintersat disclosed that it plans
next satellite launch in the future, however the company hasn’t made a final
decision yet.
Belintersat-1 Image Credit: CAST
“Generally we consider the second
satellite in the future. Service regions, ITU [International Telecommunication
Union] filings, a manufacturer, funding – all these important issues
should be considered before the final decision,” Dmitry Kuzmin of Belintersat
told Astrowatch.net.
The three-stage Long March 3B rocket
that was used in Friday’s flight is currently the most powerful Chinese launch
vehicle in service. The 180-foot (55-meter) tall booster is capable of
launching up to 12 metric tons of payload to low-Earth orbit (LEO) or 5 metric
tons of cargo to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
The 3B/E version that was employed
for the mission is an enhanced variant of the rocket, featuring an enlarged
first stage and boosters, improved computer systems and a larger payload
fairing. The rocket’s first two stages as well as the four strap-on boosters
use hypergolic fuel (nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine)
while the third stage burns cryogenic fuel (liquid hydrogen and oxygen).
This configuration of the launch
vehicle was brought into service in 2007 to increase the rocket’s GTO cargo
capacity, to allow it to be capable of lifting heavier GEO communications
satellites.
The first Chinese mission of the
year was the 223th flight of the Long March rocket series and the 35th flight
overall for the 3B version.
With the Belintersat-1 launch, China
starts a very busy year in terms of sending payloads to orbit. In 2016, the
country intends to carry out more than 20 space missions.
China also plans to return to the
business of human space flight this year and conduct maiden launches of the
next-generation Long March 5 and Long March 7 rockets. Shenzhou-11, a planned
crewed mission, is slated to lift off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
and dock with China’s second planned space station, Tiangong-2, which should be
on orbit by the time the crew’s Shenzhou spacecraft is sent aloft. The exact
launch dates for these missions have yet to be released.
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