Proton Rocket Technical Issues Postpone ILS Launch of Astra 2G

Industry officials said the delay of the launch of Astra 2G is likely to push the launch into mid-December at the earliest. 

Credit: ILS photo

The planned Nov. 28 launch of a Russian Proton rocket carrying the commercial Astra 2G telecommunications satellite has been scrubbed following communications issues with the rocket’s Breeze-M upper stage, industry officials and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said Nov. 26.

The rocket will be removed from the launch pad, its upper stage taken off and the Astra 2G will be removed for safekeeping pending inspection of the Breeze-M. It was not immediately clear whether another Breeze-M was available at the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome launch complex in Kazakhstan.

Industry officials said the delay is likely to push the launch into mid-December at the earliest.

Roscosmos said a Russian State Commission decided to halt the launch following unspecified command-and-control anomalies on Breeze-M.

Yves Feltes, spokesman for Luxembourg-based SES, said the Astra 2G satellite, built by Airbus Defence and Space, is in good health and that the company would await the conclusions of the tests on Breeze-M before announcing a new launch date.

“We are in control of the situation with respect to Astra 2G,” Feltes said. “Astra 2G is safe and there are no issues with it. It will be removed from the rocket for additional checks on Breeze-M because the Breeze-M did not correctly respond to commands sent to it while the rocket was on the launch pad.”

The delay is the latest in a series of problems affecting Russia’s heavy-lift Proton rocket in recent years, which have pushed up the cost of insurance premiums and given its commercial competitor, Arianespace of Europe, room to raise its prices for heavier communications satellites.

International Launch Services of Reston, Virginia, which is owned by Proton prime contractor Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow and is in charge of selling commercial Proton launches, was not immediately available for comment on the launch scrub.

ILS in recent weeks has been battling widespread industry opinion that the Oct. 22 Proton launch of a Russian telecommunication satellite — a launch not handled by ILS but rather as part of Russia’s Federal space program — featured an underperformance by Breeze-M.

That satellite, the Express-AM6 owned by Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC) of Moscow, will take longer than expected to reach its final operating orbit but is otherwise healthy.

SES and its insurers had raised questions about the Oct. 22 launch but ultimately were reassured that, whatever the issues were, they had been resolved, industry officials said. Plans for the Nov. 28 launch were permitted to proceed.

ESA Ariane 5 ECA Lifts Indian European Telecom Satellites into Orbit

Europe’s Ariane 5 ECA rocket on Sept. 28 successfully placed Indian and European telecommunications satellites into transfer orbit, with both satellites reported healthy and on the way to final position.

In its 51st consecutive success and the fifth of seven liftoffs scheduled this year, the Ariane 5 ECA exceeded its previous record for the mass of payload deposited into geostationary transfer orbit.

GSAT-10

The two satellites — India’s GSAT-10 and Luxembourg-based SES’s Astra-2F — together weighed 9,367 kilograms at launch.

The adaptors and dispenser platform added slightly more than 800 kilograms, bringing the total mass separated in orbit to 10,177 kilograms.

The Arianespace consortium of Evry, France, and Ariane 5 prime contractor Astrium Space Transportation are making incremental improvements to Ariane 5.

In November, European Space Agency governments are expected to decide whether to complete development of a new upper stage that would further increase performance to geostationary orbit by about 20 percent starting in 2017.

Built for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is India’s space agency and doubles as its satellite operator and satellite services vendor, GSAT-10 weighed 3,400 kilograms at launch. It carries 12 C-band, six extended C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders, and is designed to operate for 15 years.

GSAT-10 also carries a navigation payload as part of India’s Gagan GPS augmentation system.

The United States, Europe and Japan have similar overlays, which validate signals delivered by the U.S. GPS constellation of satellites in medium Earth orbit through payloads on geostationary satellites operating 36,000 kilometers over the equator.

ISRO said in a Sept. 30 statement that the maneuvers to bring the satellite to final geostationary position were proceeding on schedule. GSAT-10 will be operated at 83 degrees east.

Astra-2F is the first of four SES satellites being built by EADS, Astrium Satellites of Europe to replace aging SES direct-broadcast spacecraft over Europe.

Astra-2F, weighing nearly 6,000 kilograms at launch, is designed to deliver 13 kilowatts of power to its Ku- and Ka-band payload. It will operate at 28.2 degrees east.

The Ka-band will be used as part of SES’s cautious entry into satellite-delivered consumer broadband service in Europe.

The company already has some 70,000 customers using Ku-band for broadband access, and is adding Ka-band to its new Astra satellites over Europe to test the waters for a higher-speed service.

SES and Gazprom to provide additional satellite capacity to Russia

Global satellite operator SES S.A. and Russian fixed satellite service operator Gazprom Space System (GSS) announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership to provide additional satellite capacity to serve the Russian market.

Under the terms of a multi-year agreement, SES has re-located its ASTRA 1F satellite previously located at 51 degrees East to the orbital location 55 degrees East.

GSS will utilize 16 Ku-band FSS transponders on the ASTRA 1F satellite to provide communication services for Western Russia ahead of the arrival of GSS' Yamal-402 satellite in 2012.

In return, SES will use capacity on GSS' Yamal-402 once it becomes operational at 55 degrees East. Yamal-402 is currently under construction and scheduled for launch in November 2012.

The use of ASTRA 1F at 55 degrees East is part of a strategic partnership between SES and Gazprom to explore opportunities for the provision of satellite capacity for Russia.

GSS will use the capacity on ASTRA 1F and later Yamal-402 together with Russian satellite service providers to deliver a wide spectrum of services including the transmission of TV bouquets for direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV operators, the distribution of TV signals to cable and terrestrial networks and broadcasting stations, the delivery of broadband access for corporate clients and the consumer market, and point-to-point communication, as well as cellular backhauls and Satellite News Gathering (SNG) services.

Dimitry Sevastiyanov, General Director of GSS said: "The move of ASTRA 1F is good news for the Russian market. The additional satellite arrives at a time of high demand and scarce capacity and brings us in a position to meet the actual and growing capacity needs of our customers. The cooperation with SES is very productive and we may see additional joint projects in the future."

Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES, commented: "The agreement to move ASTRA 1F over Russia demonstrates SES' capability to quickly respond to market demands and highlights the advantage of a global and flexible satellite fleet.

The launch of ASTRA 5B scheduled for 2013 we will bring additional capacity to Russia. With Gazprom we have found an excellent partner to tap this highly important growth market."

SES: Satellite Fleet Operator on the expansion trail

Satellite fleet operator SES on July 30 said it is weighing expansion in Latin America, Asia and even Canada and has not ruled out using its huge cash flow starting in 2012 to purchase growth, whether by acquisition or by securing new orbital slots.

In a conference call with investors, Luxembourg-based SES reconfirmed that its spending on new satellites, which is peaking this year at 820 million euros ($1.07 billion), will start to fall in 2011 and then drop sharply in the following years, averaging 250 million euros starting in 2014.

Asked whether the increased free cash flow might be used for a special, one-time dividend for SES shareholders, or for share buybacks, Bausch cautioned that SES is still hungry.

In what some investors may view as a threat, and others as a promise, Bausch said the company would above all seek to invest its cash in new growth. He said there are investment opportunities in Latin America and parts of Asia.

Bausch said Telesat of Canada, the world’s fourth-largest provider of fixed satellite services, also may be viewed as an acquisition target.

SES owns a 70 percent economic stake and has 40 percent of the voting rights to Ciel of Canada, whose one satellite is leased to Dish Network of the United States for direct-broadcast television. Because Ciel does not provide television or telecommunications services in Canada, SES’s ownership of it might not be a barrier to an eventual purchase of Telesat, Bausch said.

Bausch said that Telesat’s owners — New York-based Loral and Canada’s PSP pension fund — may be looking for an exit in the next year. The same, he said, is likely true for the private-equity owners of Intelsat of Luxembourg and Washington.

An SES purchase of Intelsat would almost certainly be rejected by U.S. regulators given that Intelsat and SES World Skies are the two dominant satellite telecommunications operators in the United States.

Depending on how Canadian regulators view the market, they may consider that an SES purchase of Telesat would not result in undue industry consolidation.

SES reported revenue of 844.9 million euros for the six months ending June 30, up 4.5 percent from the same period a year ago. EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was up 3.3 percent and equivalent to 74.9 percent of revenue.

Arianespace Takes Delivery Of Two More EADS Birds For Orbital Delivery

SES ASTRA's ASTRA 3B spacecraft was delivered by an Antonov An-124 cargo jetliner, which landed yesterday at Rochambeau International Airport near the capital city of Cayenne.

Built by EADS Astrium, ASTRA 3B is a state-of-the-art Ku- and Ka-band spacecraft designed for the distribution of both direct-to-home broadcast services and two-way broadband services across Europe and the Middle East.

It will be positioned at the increasingly important 23.5 deg. East orbital position for SES ASTRA.

ASTRA 3B has a payload power of 10 kW, and can operate at a relay capacity of up to 60 transponders in Ku-band and 4 in Ka-band.

It is based on the Eurostar E3000 satellite bus, and is equipped with six mission antennas - four of which are side-mounted and will be deployed in orbit. With a launch mass of 5,470 kilograms, ASTRA 3B has been designed for a nominal lifetime of 15 years.

Liftoff of the upcoming dual-payload Ariane 5 mission is set for March 24, initiating another busy schedule in which Arianespace has planned a total of seven flights for its heavy-lift workhorse during 2010.

In addition, three missions are targeted with the medium-lift Soyuz from its new Spaceport launch facility, and the lightweight Vega vehicle's maiden flight also could occur before year-end from the Spaceport.

EADS: SES orders 4 multi-mission satellites from Astrium

Global satellite operator SES and Astrium, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS have announced that SES has ordered four multi-mission satellites from Astrium to provide replacement as well as incremental capacity for its SES ASTRA and SES WORLD SKIES divisions.

The new satellites, to be designated ASTRA 2E, ASTRA 2F, ASTRA 2G and ASTRA 5B, will allow the release of the existing satellites at two orbital positions (28.2 and 31.5 degrees East) and add new capacity as well as fleet deployment flexibility for the SES group over the coming years.

The satellites are scheduled for launch in several steps between 2012 and 2014. The design life of each satellite is 15 years.

"This important investment in new satellite capacity will enhance the prominence of SES ASTRA's 28.2 degrees East position, mainly for the UK and Irish markets, and improve coverage of Eastern Europe from 31.5 degrees East," said Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES.

"It will also allow SES WORLD SKIES to extend its offer to the African and Middle Eastern markets. By adding significant flexibility and improved functionality, these new satellites will allow SES to further drive its DTH, DTT, enterprise and broadband businesses while consolidating space assets and strengthening the international reach of the group. Also, we are pleased to be working again with Astrium. SES has appreciated the quality of their products and their customer dedication in recent and ongoing contracts, and this is exactly what we are looking for in this multi-satellite contract."

The four new satellites will be built on a Eurostar E3000 platform, the latest version of Astrium's Eurostar series which has proven to be highly reliable in commercial service. A total of 60 Eurostar satellites have been ordered to date. SES has already ordered three Eurostar E3000s: ASTRA 1M, which entered into service one year ago; ASTRA 3B, ready for launch early next year; and ASTRA 1N, which was ordered last year and is currently under construction.

"Astrium is extremely proud to have been selected by the world's premier satellite operator, and I would like to profoundly thank SES for their confidence. Following a rigorous selection process among the world's leading satellite manufacturers, Astrium demonstrated that it offered the best solutions for SES. The decision to order four satellites in a single contract increases Astrium's long-term standing as a market leader in satellite production. I would also like to express my gratitude to the teams on both sides of the table for their outstanding professionalism, which ultimately made it possible to sign one of the biggest contracts for telecommunications satellites in the world," said Astrium CEO François Auque.

Three of the new spacecraft, ASTRA 2E, ASTRA 2F and ASTRA 2G, will serve to deliver next generation broadcast, VSAT and broadband services in Europe and Africa, and will carry Ku-and Ka-band payloads at 28.2 degrees East.

The Ku-band capacity will allow SES ASTRA to enhance and secure its existing offering to major Direct-to-Home (DTH) markets in the UK and Ireland. With a Ku-band payload specifically designed to meet the requirements of some of Europe's largest DTH broadcasters, the satellites will have spot beam and pan-European beam switching capabilities to accommodate both pay-TV and free-to-air broadcasters, and to provide these customers with increased functionality.

SES ASTRA customers in this region include BSkyB, BBC, ITV, Freesat, Channel Four, UK TV, Virgin Media, Five, MTV and Discovery. The Ka-band payload will allow SES ASTRA to develop next generation broadband services in Europe, including its growing ASTRA2Connect product.

ASTRA 2E, ASTRA 2F and ASTRA 2G will also include replacement and new capacity for the SES WORLD SKIES division, serving the African and the Middle Eastern markets with Ku-and Ka-band capacity. The new capacity will provide continuity of service and expansion opportunities for customers that are today already using the ASTRA 2B steerable beam over West Africa, as well as for new customers

ASTRA 5B will be deployed at the orbital position 31.5 degrees East, extending SES ASTRA's transponder capacity and geographical reach over Eastern European and neighboring markets for DTH, Direct-to-Cable (DTC) and contribution feeds to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) networks.

SES' orbital position 28.2 degrees East is currently served by the ASTRA 2A, 2B and 2D spacecraft. The 31.5 degrees East position is currently served by ASTRA 2C.