Fobos-Grunt Mission:

Fobos-Grunt is an ambitious sample-return mission to Mars’ larger natural satellite, Phobos. With a mass of 13,500 kilograms, Fobos-Grunt is the largest planetary spacecraft ever built in the former Soviet Union and was to be the first sample return mission to the natural satellite of another planet, and the first such mission to be conducted by Russia.

In fact, Russia has enjoyed no luck with missions to the Red Planet, with all the previous 16 missions since the 1960s failing – the latter of which was the Mars-96 spacecraft, which saw its mission ended prematurely in a launch failure.

Fobos-Grunt – which was also hosting China’s first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1 as a passenger – enjoyed a nominal launch via a Zenit-2 launch vehicle, which occurred at 02:16 local time on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The two-stage Zenit lofted Fobos-Grunt into orbit via the first stage’s single RD-171M engine and second stage’s RD-8 vernier engine and RD-120 main engine – both performing as advertised.

Following shutdown of the second stage main engine, Fobos-Grunt separated, and solid rocket motors on the second stage fired to increase the separation distance between the spent stage and the payload.

It is understood the spacecraft did successfully deploy its solar arrays, as much as that has yet to be fully confirmed, although the mission’s nominal milestones – at least from an official standpoint – then failed to materialize.

As to exactly what went wrong, very few details have been released by official sources at Roscosmos, resulting in the Russian media mainly using unnamed sources, while observers around the planet attempt to piece together the state of play with the spacecraft.

As far as the mission schedule, Fobos-Grunt was set to perform an orbit-raising manoeuvre two and a half hours after launch, prior to a second burn 126 minutes later, which would have taken it into heliocentric orbit to begin its journey to Mars. However, problems were noted when observers (satobs.org/seesat) claimed Fobos-Grunt was in the same orbit after the point the first burn should have been completed.

The reason for the lack of a burn from the cruise stage – derived from the Fregat stage, powered by an S5.98M engine using unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as propellant and nitrogen tetroxide as an oxidiser – is believed to be related to a fault with the flight computer going into safe mode, but no official cause has been confirmed at this time.

What is known is Russian controllers have been attempting to re-establish a link with the spacecraft, in order to send commands. Initially it was assumed a window of only three days would be available for this effort, prior to the spacecraft’s batteries running out.

However, Roscosmos have noted that the “adjusted analysis of the orbital parameters and energy supply on board showed that these commands must be issued within two weeks.”

Among the challenges controllers may be tasked with, when trying to communicate with Fobos-Grunt during passes over ground stations, is a potential blockage by the yet-to-be-used fuel tank of the low gain antennas. This tank – located on the aft of the cruise stage – would be expended and released in the event of both burns being completed.

It is understood the spacecraft was never designed to be commanded prior to these two burns.

Should the two weeks pass without a successful resolution, the spacecraft’s orbit will eventually decay to the point it will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. Estimates on when that will occur range from between the latter part of this month, and the beginning of January.

Should controllers successfully re-establish a command path, Fobos-Grunt will take eleven months to reach Mars, performing three course corrections along the way. Orbital insertion was planned for 9 October next year, when the spacecraft would be entering an orbit with a periareion of about 800 kilometres, and an apoareion of around 80,000 kilometres.

Following insertion, Yinghuo-1 would then separate from Fobos-Grunt and begin its mission. By January 2013, Fobos-Grunt would be expected to be in a 10,000 kilometre circular orbit around Mars, and would enter a quasi-orbit around Phobos in early February, before landing on the satellite later that month.

In either late February or March, the spacecraft’s return module would lift back off from Phobos, and return to heliocentric orbit for the journey back to Earth. It would be expected to arrive at Earth in August 2014.

Interest In Phobos:

This moon is of interest not only for the Russians, but also for NASA – as seen in the post-Augustine Commission “Flexible Path” overviews – which remains the only expansive review into a Mars mission outline of late.

Based around the well-known, but undefined main goal for NASA’s Human Space Flight program, the Flexible Path approach cites Phobos as an initial target, ahead of a crewed mission to the Red Planet itself.

Utilizing several Space Launch Systems (SLS) – mainly to loft the large segments of a Mars Transport Vehicle (MTV) into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for assembly – a crew would be expected to undertake a mission of up to 650 days.

“A human Mars Orbit/Phobos Mission represents an intermediate step between human exploration missions in near-Earth space and human missions to explore the surface of Mars,” opened the expansive section on the manned missions to Mars/Phobos.

“Key features could include demonstration of in-space hardware elements designed for Mars missions while accomplishing scientific and exploration objectives both at Mars and on Phobos.”

Such “short-stay” missions range from 550-650 days, with 30 to 40 days in the vicinity of Mars. Over 95 percent of the total mission time is spent in the deep-space interplanetary environment with the balance spent in the vicinity of Mars.

The reason Phobos is the likely first target of a Mars mission relates to the additional challenges of entering Mars’ atmosphere, but also includes relevance to the science collection efforts being simulated by the missions taking place this year on Earth, such as the international Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP).

The science-rich moon was also a key part of the presentation, which in turn shows why the Russians had put so much effort into Fobos-Grunt – not least because of the sample-return nature of the mission.

“The mystery of the origin of Phobos can be resolved, and its evolution since formation can be investigated by field geologists on site in contact with a larger team back on Earth. As a possible D-type (organics-rich with possible interior ice) asteroid, it offers science beyond what is readily available in the NEO population, and can shed light on the objects that delivered the initial inventory of water and organics to the surfaces of Earth and Mars,” the presentation continued.

“Returned samples would contain a record frozen very early in the formation of the solar system. The work would benefit significantly from a conjunction-class mission (540 days vs. 40 days at the target), since Phobos is a large and diverse body.

“Phobos has been a collector of ejected Martian surface material for billions of years. That material is a record of the history of early Mars that may not even be preserved on Mars itself due to weathering. Martian material should be readily recognizable by color for collection. These samples would be an important supplement to samples collected directly from the surface of Mars.”

Such crewed mission for NASA is unlikely until the 2030s, meaning robotic missions – such as Fobos-Grunt if returned to health, and NASA’s upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) launch – will continue to be the mainstay of mankind’s knowledge base on the Red Planet, whilst providing precursor missions for what will be biggest exploration challenge for the human race.

(Images: Via Roscosmos and L2 content. To join L2, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)

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Phobos Mission:

The name Fobos-Grunt, “Фобос-Грунт” in Russian, means “Phobos Soil”, although it has frequently been mistranslated as “Phobos Grunt”, even by the Russian Space Agency, Roskosmos, itself. Yinghuo-1, “萤火” in simplified Chinese, means “Firefly”.

Fobos-Grunt is an ambitious sample-return mission to Mars’ larger natural satellite, Phobos. Discovered by Asaph Hall in August 1877, Phobos has a diameter of approximately 22 kilometres, and orbits Mars once every seven hours and forty minutes. Fobos-Grunt is the third dedicated mission to Phobos, the previous two missions, Fobos-1 and Fobos-2, were launched in 1988 by the Soviet Union, however both failed.

Fobos-2 did return some images, one of which formed the basis of a conspiracy theory that the probe detected an alien spacecraft. The theory was quickly dismissed, and has little credibility.

With a mass of 13,500 kilograms, Fobos-Grunt is the largest planetary spacecraft ever built in the former Soviet Union, however this mass includes a large amount of fuel, since the spacecraft will be deployed into low Earth orbit, and will have to perform its own injections into heliocentric and areocentric orbits. It is the first sample return mission to the natural satellite of another planet, and the first such mission to be conducted by Russia.

If the mission is successful, it will be the first successful Russian planetary exploration mission, following the loss of the Mars-96 spacecraft in a launch failure.

Fobos-Grunt is carrying 20 instruments. The Gas Analytic Package, or GAP, will conduct gas chromatography of the soil of Phobos, and look for organic compounds. The Manipulator Instruments Set will study the composition if the soil through spectroscopy. A large array of other spectrometers are also aboard the spacecraft, including a gamma-ray spectrometer, a neutron spectrometer, an infrared spectrometer, a laser mass spectrometer, an ionic mass spectrometer, a visible optical spectrometer and an infrared optical spectrometer. These will study different elements of the soil’s composition.

The Thermal Sensor will study layers of rock, to investigate their thermal properties. The Long Wave Penetrating Radar will be used along with a seismometer to study the internal structure of Phobos. Two cameras are also present, a navigation camera which will be used to aid with the spacecraft’s landing, and for mapping, and a panoramic camera to produce detailed images of the moon.

Six of the instruments aboard the spacecraft will be used to study the spacecraft’s environment and Mars itself, rather than Phobos. Two dust counters are aboard the spacecraft, with one being used to detect micrometeoroids, and the other to study the dispersal of dust in Phobos’ orbit. The TIMM-2 spectrometer will be used to look for trace gasses in the atmosphere of Mars, the Plasma Science Package will investigate the effects of the Mars and Phobos and the Solar wind upon each other. The two remaining experiments are a Solar sensor, and the Ultra-Stable Oscillator.

Yinghuo-1 is the first Chinese mission beyond the Earth-Moon system. It is a small spacecraft with a mass of 110 kilograms, and is expected to operate for around a year upon reaching Mars. It carries electron and ion analysers, a mass spectrometer, a magnetometer, a radio-occultation sounder and two cameras. Its ionospheric experiments will be conducted in conjunction with those aboard Fobos-Grunt.

The cruise stage which will propel Fobos-Grunt from an initial low Earth orbit with a perigee of 207 kilometres and an apogee of 347 kilometres into orbit around Mars is derived from the Fregat stage. Fregat has been used since 2000 as an upper stage for Soyuz-U, Soyuz-FG, Soyuz-2 and Zenit rockets, and is powered by an S5.98M engine using unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as propellant and nitrogen tetroxide as an oxidiser.

The launch of Fobos-Grunt is the seventy sixth launch of a Zenit rocket, and its thirty eighth launch in a two-stage configuration.

Development of the Zenit rocket began in 1976, with a one-stage version intended to be used as boosters on the Energia rocket, and a two stage version, the Zenit-2, seen as a replacement for the R-7 and Tsyklon families of rockets. After a delayed development programme due to problems maintaining the combustion stability of the RD-170 series engines, the Zenit-2 made its maiden flight on 13 April 1985; however the suborbital test launch was unsuccessful.

The second launch, conducted on 21 June 1985, was successful, with the vehicle overperforming and ending up in low Earth orbit, despite only a suborbital flight having been planned. To date, this remains the only recorded case of an object being accidentally placed into orbit. On 22 October 1985, the Zenit-2 made its first intentional orbital launch carrying Kosmos 1697, a mass simulator of a Tselina-2 electronic signals intelligence satellite.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Zenit became a Ukrainian rocket, and as such Russia decided against mass-producing it as a Soyuz replacement, and it was phased out of use for military launches; however it has found some success in the commercial launch market.

In September 1999, the first commercial launch of a Zenit rocket was conducted, when a Zenit-2 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying twelve Globalstar communications satellites. That launch was unsuccessful, however six months later the Zenit-3SL, a three-stage variant dedicated to commercial launches, made its maiden flight.

Operated by Sea Launch, and launched from the Odyssey mobile platform positioned at the equator, the Zenit-3SL consists of a Zenit-2S, a modified version of the Zenit-2, with a modified Blok DM upper stage. To date, thirty one Zenit-3SL launches have been made from Odyssey by Sea Launch, the most recent occurring this September with the Atlantic Bird 7 spacecraft.

Following the initial success of Sea Launch, a subsidiary, Land Launch, was set up to offer launches from Baikonur. The Zenit-3SLB, a three-stage variant optimised to launch from Baikonur, made its maiden flight in April 2008, carrying the Amos 3 satellite. Five Land Launch missions have been conducted to date.

By 2007, the stock of original Zenit-2 rockets appeared to have been depleted, and the last Tselina-2 satellite was launched by a new variant, the Zenit-2M, which featured improvements developed for the Sea Launch and Land Launch programmes, including uprated engines, modernised guidance and computer systems, and weight reductions.

The two-stage Zenit-2M, which is also known as the Zenit-2SB, is offered by Land Launch as the Zenit-2SLB, however a commercial launch is yet to be ordered or conducted. The Zenit-3F, which is also known as the Zenit-3SLBF and the Zenit-2SB/Fregat, is an alternative three-stage configuration which first flew in January, and incorporates a Fregat upper stage in place of the Blok-DM used on the Zenit-3SLB. It has made two launches so far, carrying the Elektro-L No.1 weather satellite, and the Spektr-R astronomy satellite, into orbit.

The naming of Zenit rockets has caused some confusion, with many configurations being known by several names, and the designations painted on the rocket itself often not matching those used in press releases and news articles in the leadup to the launch.

Fobos-Grunt was launched by a rocket which has been identified as a both a Zenit-2SB and a Zenit-2FG, and which is to all intents and purposes the second flight of the Zenit-2M configuration, albeit with a different payload fairing and adaptor. Of the two ‘official’ designations, the former is used to identify variants of the Zenit-2S which have been modernised and optimised for launch from Baikonur, whilst the latter appears to refer to modifications made to the rocket to accommodate the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft.

The Zenit which was used to launch Fobos-Grunt is the two-stage Zenit-2SB41, with the digits ’41′ referring to the variations on the standard Zenit-2SB configuration for this mission. The Zenit-2M configuration with a normal payload is designated Zenit-2SB40, whilst the configurations used as the first two stages of the three-stage Zenit-3SLB and 3F configurations are designated the Zenit-2SB60 and 2SB80 respectively.

Based on the general flight profile for a two-stage Zenit launch to low Earth orbit, the first stage’s single RD-171M engine ignited when the countdown reached zero, and about 3.9 seconds later liftoff was initiated, with the Zenit beginning its climb away from Baikonur. Ten second after T-0, the rocket began a roll to the correct flight azimuth, and a second later it pitched over to attain the necessary attitude for its ascent. The roll manoeuvre was completed about 14 seconds after ignition.

A minute into the flight, the vehicle passed through the area of maximum dynamic pressure, and fifty three second later it reached peak axial acceleration, at which point the RD-171M throttled down to half of its rated thrust for nineteen seconds. Two minutes and 25 seconds after launch, the second stage’s RD-8 vernier engine ignited. Two seconds later, the first stage burnt out, with separation occurring a further two seconds after that. Ignition of the RD-120 main engine of the second stage came six seconds after staging.

Separation of the payload fairing occurred when the atmospheric density outside the vehicle was sufficiently thin that it would not cause damage to the spacecraft – something which varies depending upon the payload. However, for a generic mission described in the Land Launch Users’ Manual, separation occurs about five seconds short of five minutes into the flight. The end of the second stage’s burn depends entirely upon payload requirements, specifically its mass and target orbit.

Following shutdown of the second stage main engine, the vernier may continue to burn for some time. Once they had been shut down, Fobos-Grunt separated, and solid rocket motors on the second stage fired to increase the separation distance between the spent stage and the payload.

Problem On Orbit:

Two and a half hours after launch, Fobos-Grunt was set to perform an orbit-raising manoeuvre, prior to a second burn 126 minutes later, which would have taken it into heliocentric orbit to begin its journey to Mars. Both burns failed.

Believed to be related to a problem with the flight computer, which is now understood to be in safe mode, Russian officials told Interfax that they have three days to resolve the software issue before the battery power on the spacecraft runs out.

If the problem is software related, controllers may be able to upload corrective lines of code. However, if the problem is hardware related, the mission will likely be lost.

See live coverage link for live updates.

Should The Mission Survive:

Fobos-Grunt will take eleven months to reach Mars, performing three course corrections along the way. Orbital insertion is planned for 9 October next year, when the spacecraft will enter an orbit with a periareion of about 800 kilometres, and an apoareion of around 80,000 kilometres.

Following insertion, Yinghuo-1 will separate from Fobos-Grunt and begin its mission. By January 2013, Fobos-Grunt will be in a 10,000 kilometre circular orbit around Mars, and will enter a quasi-orbit around Phobos in early February, before landing on the satellite later that month. In either late February or March, the spacecraft’s return module will lift back off from Phobos, and return to heliocentric orbit for the journey back to Earth. It is expected to arrive at Earth in August 2014.

The Zenit was launched from Pad 1 of Area 45 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The first Zenit launch complex to be built, Pad 1 has been used for all but two of the Zenit launches conducted from Baikonur (excluding those launched as part of Energia rockets). The launch of Fobos-Grunt is the forty fourth to use the pad, and the forty sixth launch in total from Area 45, which was first used in 1985 for the Zenit-2′s maiden flight.

Area 45 originally consisted of two pads, with the other pad, 45/2, being first used on 22 May 1990 for the launch of Kosmos 2082, or Tselina-2 No.9. The second and last launch from Pad 2 occurred on 4 October 1990, with Tselina-2 No.10. Following a first stage engine failure three or five seconds after launch, the rocket fell back into the flame trench and exploded. The explosion caused a metal structure with a mass of 1,000 tonnes to be blown 20 metres into the air, blew panels off the pad’s service tower, damaged lighting masts several hundred metres away, and scattered debris within a three kilometre radius. The pad was never rebuilt.

Wednesday’s launch is the first of two launches towards Mars during this year’s launch window. Launch opportunities for missions to Mars occur for about two months every 780 days, depending on the mass of the payload and the performance of the rocket launching it. The two month period is centred around the date at which the Earth and Mars are positioned such that a minimum-energy transfer can be made between the two planets. This repeats every 780 days due to the synodic period of the two planets.

Due to construction delays, Fobos-Grunt missed the last launch window, which occurred in late 2009, when it was expected to be launched. The Mars Science Laboratory is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket at the end of the month, marking the second launch of the window.

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Zenit 3SLB:

Using existing Zenit infrastructure at the Baikonur Space Center, the Land Launch system is based on a modified version of the proven Sea Launch vehicle, the three-stage Zenit-3SL.

Land Launch’s Zenit-3SLB vehicle addresses the launch needs of commercial satellites weighing up to three-and-a-half metric tonnes. The two-stage Zenit-2SLB is also available for lifting payloads up to thirteen metric tonnes to inclined low Earth orbits.

The Land Launch configurations are closely derived from the Sea Launch system, which returned to operations last month with the successful launch of the ATLANTIC BIRD 7 satellite.

In particular, propulsion systems and all flight critical avionics are unchanged. The fairings represent the most significance difference, with the Zenit-2SLB fairing using an improved version of the heritage Zenit-2 fairing.

The Zenit 3SLB and DM-SLB Upper Stage – a variant of the Block DM - launched on a mission which included three burns of the Upper Stage, resulting in spacecraft seperation six hours and 34 minutes after lift-off.

The launch has been delayed several times, the latter of which resulted in a 24 hour delay from Tuesday, following unspecified issues with the spacecraft.

Built by Orbital Space Sciences, the Intelsat 18 satellite will weigh approximately 3,200 kilograms (7,055 lbs.) at launch and will be located at an orbital slot at 180 degrees East Longitude.

The satellite’s C-band payload will serve Eastern Asia, the Western Pacific and North America. The Ku-band payload will serve North America, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and other islands.

The satellite will provide capability to enable enhanced DTH coverage and network services capabilities via Ku-band and C-band platforms. Once operational in November, it will replace Intelsat 701 at 180E and is expected to have a useful life of nearly 17 years.

The Satellite Bus is an OSC Star 2.4E, using DC Power (EOL) of 6.8 KW AE. The bird will be using Dual Mode (oxidizer, hydrazine) propulsion, with power generated by UTJ GaAs solar arrays and two battery packs with 36 total 100Ah Li-Ion cells.

“Intelsat 18 will provide the infrastructure for customers to deliver media content directly to homes throughout the Pacific Ocean region, as well as broadband services directly to government and commercial users,” said Intelsat CEO David McGlade.

“Intelsat’s strategy aligns our fleet investments to support our customer’s growth needs. The Intelsat 18 payload includes a Ku-band beam designed to the requirements of Office des Postes et Communications (OPT) of French Polynesia.

“The customer will use this beam to provide new broadband, expanded domestic DTH service and improve its infrastructure across French Polynesia, with the ability to serve the South Pacific.”

Following closely the successful mission performed for Eutelsat – just twelve days previously from the Odyssey Launch Platform – this launch marks Sea Launch’s second mission since returning to launch operations following re-organization in late 2010.

“We are most pleased to extend our congratulations and thanks to Intelsat and Orbital for this stellar achievement,” said Aiaz Bakasov, CEO of Sea Launch AG.  ”Sea Launch is privileged to share this success with Intelsat and looks forward to extending our long-standing relationship with many more successful launches in close cooperation with RSC Energia.”

President of Sea Launch AG Kjell Karlsen added: “Our entire team thanks you for your continuing trust and confidence in our system and the services we provide. Finally, I wish to congratulate the Sea Launch and Energia Logistics teams, RSC Energia, and all of our suppliers and contractors who support us and contribute to our mutual success.”

Sea Launch Company, LLC, provides contracting and management functions for the Land Launch system. Space International Services, Ltd., based in Moscow, provides hardware and services originating in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, in a subcontracting arrangement with Sea Launch.

(Images via Sea Launch/Land Launch)

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The Zenit-3SLB is derived from the Zenit-2SLB, and further modified from the Zenit-3SL used by Sea Launch for missions that launch from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific ocean.

The vehicle consists of a Zenit-2SB (Zenit-2M) core vehicle, with a Block DM-SLB upper stage and debuted on April 28, 2008, when it carried the Israeli AMOS-3 satellite into orbit.

Built by the world famous Orbital Sciences, MEASAT-3a is designed to expand capacity and in-orbit redundancy for MEASAT’s customers.

Orbital’s STAR-2 spacecraft platform carries 12 C-band transponders with coverage for the wide Asia-Pacific region. The satellite also carries 12 Ku-band transponders to serve direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting markets in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Zenit-3SLB launched the 2,366 kg (5,216 lb) MEASAT-3a spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, following a mission profile that included a two and a half minute first stage, and six-minute second stage burn.

Over the following hours, the Block DM conducted three burns, taking the spacecraft to a stable parking orbit. After a brief second burn, the upper stage coasted with the spacecraft for five hours, after which a third burn injected the spacecraft into a geosynchronous transit orbit.

Eleven minutes later, the spacecraft separated from the upper stage. Following spacecraft separation, a ground station in Uralla, Australia, acquired the first signals from MEASAT-3a in orbit.

Following orbital insertion, this satellite will be co-located with MEASAT-3 at 91.5 degrees East Longitude. It is designed for a 15-year service life on orbit and will generate approximately 3.6 kW of payload power.

The launch was delayed after the satellite suffered damage during pre-launch operations in Baikonur last year.

After a complex de-fueling and decontamination procedure, the satellite was shipped back to Orbital for repairs – via further decontamination at White Sands, New Mexico.

Orbital managed to fully repair the bird in time for the realigned launch today, much to the pleasure of MEASAT’s management.

“We have been working closely with Orbital Sciences on the repairs of the satellite,” said Dr Ali Ebadi, MEASAT’s Senior Vice President of Space Systems Development. “We are happy with the progress, and we look forward to seeing the satellite return to the launch site for a June 2009 launch.”

Operating three satellites, the MEASAT fleet is able to provide satellite capacity to over 145 countries representing 80 percent of the world’s population across the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Australia. The fleet will be further enhanced with the launch of MEASAT-3a.

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The Zenit-3SL is a hybrid concept developed by RSC Energia. The two stage Zenit features a modified Russian Block DM upper stage.

From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle inserted the 3,038 kg (6,697 lb) SICRAL 1B spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to its final orbital location at 11.8 degrees East Longitude.

Preview:

The first stage of the vehicle will separate two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff and the protective payload fairing will be jettisoned a minute later. After operating for six minutes, the second stage will separate from the Block DM upper stage. The Block DM will burn for eight-and-a-half minutes.

Following a coast period of one hour and 18 minutes, the Block DM will burn a second time for three minutes. After the second burn, and another 10-minute coast, the spacecraft will separate from the upper stage over central Africa. A ground station at Telespazio’s Fucino Space Centre in Italy is expected to confirm the status of SICRAL 1B satellite soon after spacecraft separation.

Monday’s launch will mark another success for Sea Launch since they returned to flight in January, 07 – following the failed launch which occurred with the NSS-8 communications satellite for SES New Skies, after the vehicle exploded on the launch pad, destroying both the vehicle and satellite.

That initial RTF success came via the launch of the Thuraya 3 telecommunications satellite for the United Arab Emirates – a year after the NSS-8 failure

Sea Launch are conducting the launch for Telespazio, a Thales/Finmeccanica company, based in Rome, after the contract was signed in 2007.

Built in Torino by Thales Alenia Space Italia, a Thales/Finmeccanica company, the dual-use Italsat 3000 bus spacecraft was integrated and tested in Cannes, France.

SICRAL 1B will provide strategic and tactical communications services for the Italian armed forces, in Italy and abroad, as well as ensuring mobile communications with land, naval and air platforms. It will also provide NATO forces with UHF and SHF SATCOM capabilities.

The launch of the SICRAL 1B satellite will follow the successful deployment and operation of SICRAL 1A, part of Italy’s first military communications satellite system dedicated to national security. SICRAL 1B has an expected operating life of 13 years and is designed to extend the potential of the system within NATO programs until 2019.

As an investor in the SICRAL 1B program, Telespazio will have access of some of the satellite’s transmission capacity from its final orbital position at 11.8 degrees East Longitude.

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