 | Starbus-C
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Class: Communications. Destination: Geosynchronous Orbit. Nation: USA. Agency: PT Media Citra Indostar, Jakarta. Manufacturer: Orbital Sciences. The Orbital Star bus was a flight-proven design that could deliver reliable and robust performance for a variety of LEO and GEO missions. Orbital's turn-key approach included the GEO satellite, launch services, ground stations, user systems and business support. The STAR GEO platform was designed for a 15-year mission life. STAR GEO Payload options included: C-, Ku-, Ka-, S-, Hybrid-band frequencies; payload power from 500 to 4,500 W; up to 42 transponders; shaped beams or spots with up to two deployable and one deck-mounted antenna systems. Orbital's Star 1 bus and had a launch mass of 1298 kg. It carried a Thiokol Star 30 solid apogee motor and a set of station-keeping thrusters with 200 kg of propellant. The improved Star 2 satellite bus had a dry mass around 800 kg . It used an Orbital hydrazine/nitrogen tetroxide liquid apogee propulsion system with a 500N thrust apogee engine developed by Japan's IHI. The Orbital Star bus was a flight-proven design that could deliver reliable and robust performance for a variety of LEO and GEO missions. Orbital's turn-key approach included the GEO satellite, launch services, ground stations, user systems and business support. The STAR GEO platform was designed for a 15-year mission life. STAR GEO Payload options included: C-, Ku-, Ka-, S-, Hybrid-band frequencies; payload power from 500 to 4,500 W; up to 42 transponders; shaped beams or spots with up to two deployable and one deck-mounted antenna systems.
A new era for Orbital began in November 1997 when its first GEO satellite, IndoStar-1, was launched aboard an Ariane 4 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Orbital built the IndoStar-1 satellite for Media Citra Indovision to deliver the first direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television to Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous county.
IndoStar-1 was the world's first commercial communications satellite to use S-band frequencies, which efficiently penetrated the atmosphere and provided high-quality transmissions to small-diameter antennas in regions that experience heavy rainfall such as Indonesia. Similar performance was not economically feasible with comparable Ku- or C-band DTH satellite systems since more power was required in these bands to penetrate the moist atmosphere.
Under the $175 million contract, Orbital served as the prime contractor for the turn-key system, including the space, ground and user segments. Specifically, Orbital provided:
- The complete INDOVISION satellite television broadcasting system, including total system engineering
- Coordination of activities for the Ariane 4 launch
- The ground station for spacecraft telemetry, tracking, control and monitoring
- Design and engineering management of the integrated receiver and decoder units
- Subscriber management and conditional access security systems
- Complete program risk management, system operations and maintenance
- Customer: Media Citra Indovision (MCI) - Jakarta, Indonesia
- Mission: Provide direct broadcast television to Indonesia (high quality digital transmission, approximately 40 TV channels)
- Performance: Launch mass - 1,350 kg
- Mission life - 12 years
- Status: Satellite was launched via Ariane (V102) in November 1997
In early 2001, Orbital firmly established itself as a major U.S. GEO satellite supplier with a contract from PanAmSat Corporation, which owned and operated one of the world's largest private fleets of commercial GEO communications satellites. Orbital was selected to supply one C-band GEO satellite designated Galaxy XII to be located at 72° W longitude. In late 2001 PanAmSat exercised an option for two additional C-band spacecraft. The satellites were to distribute entertainment and information to cable television systems, TV broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home TV operators, Internet service providers, telecommunications companies and corporations.
Characteristics of this version of the Star bus were:
- Customer: PanAmSat Corporation - Greenwich, Connecticut
- Mission: C-band communications for CONUS, Alaska and Hawaii
- Performance: Repeater - two groups of 16:12 linearized traveling wave tube assemblies (TWTAs)
- Transponder Power - 37 watts RF at saturation at EOL
- Stabilization - 3-axis, zero momentum
- Launch mass - 1,760 kg
- Mission life - 15 years (>15 years of fuel)
- Status: Galaxy XII launch expected in early 2003.
Typical orbit: 35756 km x 35859 km at 0 degrees inclination. Associated Launch Vehicle: Ariane 44L, Ariane 5G.
Star bus Chronology
- 2001 July 12 - BSAT-2b - Program: BSAT. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G. Mass: 3,105 kg (6,845 lb). Perigee: 659 km (409 mi). Apogee: 17,400 km (10,800 mi). Inclination: 2.90 deg. Period: 317.20 min.
BSAT-2b was planned as a geosynchronous television broadcast satellite for the Japanese B-SAT company. It used Orbital's Star 1 bus and had a launch mass of 1298 kg. It carried a Thiokol Star 30 solid apogee motor and a set of station-keeping thrusters with 200 kg of propellant. A propulsion problem in the final stage of rocket stranded the satellite at a much lower altitude than planned. Since BSAT 2B carried only a soild propellant apogee kick motor, it was unable to maneuver itself to a useful orbit.
- 2001 March 8 - BSAT-2a - Program: BSAT. Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G. Mass: 3,050 kg (6,720 lb). Perigee: 35,764 km (22,222 mi). Apogee: 35,807 km (22,249 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
BSAT-2a was a Japanese geosynchronous communications spacecraft and the second Orbital STAR-class television broadcasting satellite. Its launch mass was 1317 kg; dry mass was 535 kg. The satellite had a Thiokol Star 30CBP solid apogee motor. The new BSTAR STAR-class satellites are a new design replacing the earlier Starbus type satellite of which only one (Cakrawarta 1) was launched. BSAT Corp. (Broadcasting Satellite System Corp.) earlier launched HS-376 satellites BSAT 1a and 1b, replacing the government's BS series which began Japanese direct broadcast services in 1978. The satellite was to be parked over 110 deg-E longitude to provide direct-to-home voice, video and internet communications. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 110 deg E in 2001 As of 5 September 2001 located at 109.82 deg E drifting at 0.018 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 109.92E drifting at 0.009W degrees per day.
- 2005 August 13 - Galaxy 14 - Program: Galaxy. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz FG. Mass: 2,087 kg (4,601 lb). Perigee: 35,782 km (22,233 mi). Apogee: 35,790 km (22,230 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.10 min.
Payload swapped from Ariane 5. Launch delayed from December 2004; February 25, March 16 and 25, April 25, June 17, July 10 and 28, August 1, 6 and 12, 2005. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 125.05W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.
- 2005 November 16 - Telkom 2 - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5 EC-A. Mass: 1,975 kg (4,354 lb). Perigee: 35,781 km (22,233 mi). Apogee: 35,794 km (22,241 mi). Inclination: 0.10 deg. Period: 1,436.20 min.
Satellite's launch delayed from April 14, May 31, October 27, November 10 and 12, 2005, for technical problems. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 118.00E drifting at 0.013W degrees per day.
- 2007 October 5 - Optus D-2 - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G. Perigee: 35,862 km (22,283 mi). Apogee: 35,889 km (22,300 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,440.70 min.
Ku-band satellite designed to deliver television, internet, communications, and data services to Australia and New Zealand. After deployment of the two satellites, the EPS third stage made a brief burn at 23:28 GMT to make the first in-flight test the Aestus engine's restart capability. This was to be used in 2008 in the first launch of the ATV ISS resupply spacecraft.
Bibliography and Further Reading - McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. Essential internet newsletter recording worldwide weekly space events. Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
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