55-716: SES-10 , is a geostationary communications satellite awarded in February 2014, owned and operated by SES and designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space on the Eurostar-3000 satellite bus . It is positioned at the 67° West position thanks to an agreement with the Andean Community to use the Simón Bolivar-2 satellite network. It replaces AMC-3 and AMC-4 to provide enhanced coverage and significant capacity expansion. The satellite has
110-504: A Hall-effect thruster with a Xenon regulator and feed system supplied by ArianeGroup . ArianeGroup also supplies 14 S10-21 10 N (2.2 lb f ) thrusters for the reaction control system , plus 17 pyrovalves and 13 fill and drain valves. Its payload comprises 55 Ku-band transponders arranged in three wide beams. The first beam covers Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, the second beam covers Hispanic South America, and
165-483: A delta-v of approximately 50 m/s per year. A second effect to be taken into account is the longitudinal drift, caused by the asymmetry of the Earth – the equator is slightly elliptical ( equatorial eccentricity ). There are two stable equilibrium points sometimes called "gravitational wells" (at 75.3°E and 108°W) and two corresponding unstable points (at 165.3°E and 14.7°W). Any geostationary object placed between
220-427: A geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), an elliptical orbit with an apogee at GEO height and a low perigee . On-board satellite propulsion is then used to raise the perigee, circularise and reach GEO. Satellites in geostationary orbit must all occupy a single ring above the equator . The requirement to space these satellites apart, to avoid harmful radio-frequency interference during operations, means that there are
275-452: A temporary orbit , and placed in a slot above a particular point on the Earth's surface. The orbit requires some stationkeeping to keep its position, and modern retired satellites are placed in a higher graveyard orbit to avoid collisions. In 1929, Herman Potočnik described both geosynchronous orbits in general and the special case of the geostationary Earth orbit in particular as useful orbits for space stations . The first appearance of
330-459: A backup launch window the next day. The spacecraft was finally launched on schedule, at 20:43 UTC on April 8, 2016. The rocket first stage separated around 2 minutes 40 seconds after liftoff, and the second stage separated around ten minutes 30 seconds after liftoff. NASA has contracted for the CRS-8 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the orbital parameters for the primary payload –
385-537: A geostationary orbit in popular literature was in October 1942, in the first Venus Equilateral story by George O. Smith , but Smith did not go into details. British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke popularised and expanded the concept in a 1945 paper entitled Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage? , published in Wireless World magazine. Clarke acknowledged
440-415: A geostationary orbit in particular, it ensures that it holds the same longitude over time. This orbital period, T , is directly related to the semi-major axis of the orbit through the formula: where: The eccentricity is zero, which produces a circular orbit . This ensures that the satellite does not move closer or further away from the Earth, which would cause it to track backwards and forwards across
495-525: A geostationary orbit was Syncom 3 , which was launched by a Delta D rocket in 1964. With its increased bandwidth, this satellite was able to transmit live coverage of the Summer Olympics from Japan to America. Geostationary orbits have been in common use ever since, in particular for satellite television. Today there are hundreds of geostationary satellites providing remote sensing and communications. Although most populated land locations on
550-399: A known position) and providing an additional reference signal. This improves position accuracy from approximately 5m to 1m or less. Past and current navigation systems that use geostationary satellites include: Geostationary satellites are launched to the east into a prograde orbit that matches the rotation rate of the equator. The smallest inclination that a satellite can be launched into
605-408: A large area of the earth's surface, extending 81° away in latitude and 77° in longitude. They appear stationary in the sky, which eliminates the need for ground stations to have movable antennas. This means that Earth-based observers can erect small, cheap and stationary antennas that are always directed at the desired satellite. However, latency becomes significant as it takes about 240 ms for
SECTION 10
#1732775638486660-516: A limited number of orbital slots available, and thus only a limited number of satellites can be operated in geostationary orbit. This has led to conflict between different countries wishing access to the same orbital slots (countries near the same longitude but differing latitudes ) and radio frequencies . These disputes are addressed through the International Telecommunication Union 's allocation mechanism under
715-476: A pure Ku-band payload with 55 transponders offering direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting and enterprise and broadband connectivity. Its three wide beams cover Mexico and the Caribbean , Brazil , and Spanish-speaking South America . After several delays, SES-10 was launched on 30 March 2017 aboard a Falcon 9 Full Thrust . The launch marked the first time in aerospace history that an orbital-class first stage
770-406: A signal to pass from a ground based transmitter on the equator to the satellite and back again. This delay presents problems for latency-sensitive applications such as voice communication, so geostationary communication satellites are primarily used for unidirectional entertainment and applications where low latency alternatives are not available. Geostationary satellites are directly overhead at
825-452: Is that of the launch site's latitude, so launching the satellite from close to the equator limits the amount of inclination change needed later. Additionally, launching from close to the equator allows the speed of the Earth's rotation to give the satellite a boost. A launch site should have water or deserts to the east, so any failed rockets do not fall on a populated area. Most launch vehicles place geostationary satellites directly into
880-403: Is the gravitational constant , (6.674 28 ± 0.000 67 ) × 10 m kg s . The magnitude of the acceleration, a , of a body moving in a circle is given by: where v is the magnitude of the velocity (i.e. the speed) of the satellite. From Newton's second law of motion , the centripetal force F c is given by: As F c = F g , so that Replacing v with the equation for
935-781: Is typically 70°, and in some cases less. Geostationary satellite imagery has been used for tracking volcanic ash , measuring cloud top temperatures and water vapour, oceanography , measuring land temperature and vegetation coverage, facilitating cyclone path prediction, and providing real time cloud coverage and other tracking data. Some information has been incorporated into meteorological prediction models , but due to their wide field of view, full-time monitoring and lower resolution, geostationary weather satellite images are primarily used for short-term and real-time forecasting. Geostationary satellites can be used to augment GNSS systems by relaying clock , ephemeris and ionospheric error corrections (calculated from ground stations of
990-408: Is used to provide visible and infrared images of Earth's surface and atmosphere for weather observation, oceanography , and atmospheric tracking. As of 2019 there are 19 satellites in either operation or stand-by. These satellite systems include: These satellites typically capture images in the visual and infrared spectrum with a spatial resolution between 0.5 and 4 square kilometres. The coverage
1045-481: The Radio Regulations . In the 1976 Bogota Declaration , eight countries located on the Earth's equator claimed sovereignty over the geostationary orbits above their territory, but the claims gained no international recognition. A statite is a hypothetical satellite that uses radiation pressure from the sun against a solar sail to modify its orbit. It would hold its location over the dark side of
1100-430: The centripetal force required to maintain the orbit ( F c ) is equal to the gravitational force acting on the satellite ( F g ): From Isaac Newton 's universal law of gravitation , where F g is the gravitational force acting between two objects, M E is the mass of the Earth, 5.9736 × 10 kg , m s is the mass of the satellite, r is the distance between the centers of their masses , and G
1155-451: The direction of Earth's rotation . An object in such an orbit has an orbital period equal to Earth's rotational period, one sidereal day , and so to ground observers it appears motionless, in a fixed position in the sky. The concept of a geostationary orbit was popularised by the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in the 1940s as a way to revolutionise telecommunications, and the first satellite to be placed in this kind of orbit
SECTION 20
#17327756384861210-447: The speed of an object moving around a circle produces: where T is the orbital period (i.e. one sidereal day), and is equal to 86 164 .090 54 s . This gives an equation for r : The product GM E is known with much greater precision than either factor alone; it is known as the geocentric gravitational constant μ = 398 600 .4418 ± 0.0008 km s . Hence SpaceX CRS-8 SpaceX CRS-8 , also known as SpX-8 ,
1265-575: The Andean Community. From there, it would offer an all Ka-band to Latin American and the Caribbean. On the same day, SES disclosed that they had contracted with SpaceX for launch services. While initially thought to be launched aboard a Falcon Heavy due to performance limitations of the Falcon 9 , it was clarified that it would, in fact, launch aboard the smaller rocket. At that time, it
1320-593: The Atlantic Ocean. Nine minutes after liftoff, at 20:52:10 UTC, the booster landed vertically on the autonomous spaceport drone ship Of Course I Still Love You , 300 kilometers (190 mi) from the Florida coastline, achieving a long-sought-after milestone for the SpaceX reusable launch system development program . This was the second successful landing achieved by a SpaceX orbital launch vehicle and
1375-614: The Dragon space capsule . The mission delivered 3,136 kilograms (6,914 lb) of supplies, experiments, and hardware to the ISS. These include the station's first expandable module, called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which is expected to remain on the station for at least five more full years of observation and testing. Also delivered in the Dragon were sixteen Flock 2d 3U CubeSats for
1430-424: The Earth at a latitude of approximately 30 degrees. A statite is stationary relative to the Earth and Sun system rather than compared to surface of the Earth, and could ease congestion in the geostationary ring. Geostationary satellites require some station keeping to keep their position, and once they run out of thruster fuel they are generally retired. The transponders and other onboard systems often outlive
1485-733: The Earth-observing Flock constellation, built and operated by Planet Labs , which will be deployed by the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer . After splashdown, the mission returned more than 3,700 lb (1,700 kg) of cargo from the station back to Earth. After placing the CRS-8 cargo on its way to the International Space Station , the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket conducted an experimental boostback and re-entry maneuver over
1540-431: The ISS including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a prototype inflatable space habitat delivered in the vehicle's trunk, which was attached to the station and, as of May 2022, is expected to remain so for five more full years of in-orbit viability tests. After boosting the payload on its orbital trajectory, the rocket's first stage re-entered the denser layers of the atmosphere and landed vertically on
1595-400: The absence of servicing missions from the Earth or a renewable propulsion method, the consumption of thruster propellant for station-keeping places a limitation on the lifetime of the satellite. Hall-effect thrusters , which are currently in use, have the potential to prolong the service life of a satellite by providing high-efficiency electric propulsion . For circular orbits around a body,
1650-458: The concept was seen as impractical, so Hughes often withheld funds and support. By 1961, Rosen and his team had produced a cylindrical prototype with a diameter of 76 centimetres (30 in), height of 38 centimetres (15 in), weighing 11.3 kilograms (25 lb), light and small enough to be placed into orbit. It was spin stabilised with a dipole antenna producing a pancake shaped beam. In August 1961, they were contracted to begin building
1705-541: The connection in his introduction to The Complete Venus Equilateral . The orbit, which Clarke first described as useful for broadcast and relay communications satellites, is sometimes called the Clarke orbit. Similarly, the collection of artificial satellites in this orbit is known as the Clarke Belt. In technical terminology the orbit is referred to as either a geostationary or geosynchronous equatorial orbit, with
SES-10 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1760-659: The equator and appear lower in the sky to an observer nearer the poles. As the observer's latitude increases, communication becomes more difficult due to factors such as atmospheric refraction , Earth's thermal emission , line-of-sight obstructions, and signal reflections from the ground or nearby structures. At latitudes above about 81°, geostationary satellites are below the horizon and cannot be seen at all. Because of this, some Russian communication satellites have used elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits, which have excellent visibility at high latitudes. A worldwide network of operational geostationary meteorological satellites
1815-474: The equilibrium points would (without any action) be slowly accelerated towards the stable equilibrium position, causing a periodic longitude variation. The correction of this effect requires station-keeping maneuvers with a maximal delta-v of about 2 m/s per year, depending on the desired longitude. Solar wind and radiation pressure also exert small forces on satellites: over time, these cause them to slowly drift away from their prescribed orbits. In
1870-479: The first vertical landing by any organization on a floating platform . SpaceX first landed a Falcon 9 on solid ground at Cape Canaveral with flight 20 on December 22, 2015. The drone ship carried the stage to Port Canaveral , Florida , arriving on April 12, 2016 (UTC), where it was offloaded. SpaceX plans to keep this first stage in Cape Canaveral and conduct a series of test fires to ensure that
1925-553: The following properties: An inclination of zero ensures that the orbit remains over the equator at all times, making it stationary with respect to latitude from the point of view of a ground observer (and in the Earth-centered Earth-fixed reference frame). The orbital period is equal to exactly one sidereal day. This means that the satellite will return to the same point above the Earth's surface every (sidereal) day, regardless of other orbital properties. For
1980-523: The ground. All geostationary satellites have to be located on this ring. A combination of lunar gravity, solar gravity, and the flattening of the Earth at its poles causes a precession motion of the orbital plane of any geostationary object, with an orbital period of about 53 years and an initial inclination gradient of about 0.85° per year, achieving a maximal inclination of 15° after 26.5 years. To correct for this perturbation , regular orbital stationkeeping maneuvers are necessary, amounting to
2035-419: The launch from Pad LC-39A , Kennedy Space Center , Cape Canaveral , Florida , became the first to reuse an orbital rocket's first stage, booster B1021 , previously launched on the 23rd Falcon 9 mission that launched CRS-8 . After delivering the payload, the first stage landed on a drone ship, becoming the first orbital rocket stage to return from space for the second time. Additionally, one clamshell half of
2090-523: The ocean landing platform Of Course I Still Love You nine minutes after liftoff, achieving a long-sought-after milestone in SpaceX reusable launch system development program . The recovered Falcon 9 first stage ( B1021 ) from this mission became the first one to be flown again, launching the SES-10 satellite on March 30, 2017. The launch was initially scheduled by NASA to occur no earlier than September 2, 2015. The launch date went under review pending
2145-470: The outcome of the analysis of the failure of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle in SpaceX CRS-7 , a June 2015 flight. The return-to-flight (RTF) project included additional improvements. With additional manifest changes announced by SpaceX in mid-October, CRS-8 was scheduled to be the third launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket. By March 2016, the launch date was set to April 8, 2016, with
2200-496: The payload fairing remained intact after a successful splashdown achieved with thrusters and a steerable parachute. On 15 May 2017, the satellite became fully operational at 67° West. Geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit , also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit ( GEO ), is a circular geosynchronous orbit 35,786 km (22,236 mi) in altitude above Earth's equator , 42,164 km (26,199 mi) in radius from Earth's center, and following
2255-476: The planet now have terrestrial communications facilities ( microwave , fiber-optic ), with telephone access covering 96% of the population and internet access 90%, some rural and remote areas in developed countries are still reliant on satellite communications. Most commercial communications satellites , broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbits. Geostationary communication satellites are useful because they are visible from
SES-10 - Misplaced Pages Continue
2310-640: The real satellite. They lost Syncom 1 to electronics failure, but Syncom 2 was successfully placed into a geosynchronous orbit in 1963. Although its inclined orbit still required moving antennas, it was able to relay TV transmissions, and allowed for US President John F. Kennedy in Washington D.C., to phone Nigerian prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa aboard the USNS Kingsport docked in Lagos on August 23, 1963. The first satellite placed in
2365-524: The same plane, altitude and speed; however, the presence of satellites in eccentric orbits allows for collisions at up to 4 km/s. Although a collision is comparatively unlikely, GEO satellites have a limited ability to avoid any debris. At geosynchronous altitude, objects less than 10 cm in diameter cannot be seen from the Earth, making it difficult to assess their prevalence. Despite efforts to reduce risk, spacecraft collisions have occurred. The European Space Agency telecom satellite Olympus-1
2420-405: The sky. A geostationary orbit can be achieved only at an altitude very close to 35,786 kilometres (22,236 miles) and directly above the equator. This equates to an orbital speed of 3.07 kilometres per second (1.91 miles per second) and an orbital period of 1,436 minutes, one sidereal day . This ensures that the satellite will match the Earth's rotational period and has a stationary footprint on
2475-569: The stage's suitability for reuse on subsequent launch. On January 31, 2017, SpaceX posted a photo of a static fire test of this stage in Texas. It was launched again on March 30, 2017, as part of Falcon 9 Flight 32 carrying the SES-10 communications satellite. The stage was also recovered a second time after landing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You . As part of a multi-month multi-vehicle test process to reuse Falcon 9 boosters, another first stage — from flight 24 which carried JCSAT-14 —
2530-492: The terms used somewhat interchangeably. The first geostationary satellite was designed by Harold Rosen while he was working at Hughes Aircraft in 1959. Inspired by Sputnik 1 , he wanted to use a geostationary satellite to globalise communications. Telecommunications between the US and Europe was then possible between just 136 people at a time, and reliant on high frequency radios and an undersea cable . Conventional wisdom at
2585-538: The third beam is dedicated to Brazil. On 20 February 2014, SES S.A. ordered a new satellite, SES-10 from Airbus Defence and Space . It was to be built on the Eurostar-3000 satellite bus, weight 5,282 kg (11,645 lb), produce 13 kW of power and have a design life of 15 years. It would be positioned in the 67° West orbital position, which belonged to the Simón Bolivar-2 registry belonging to
2640-485: The thruster fuel and by allowing the satellite to move naturally into an inclined geosynchronous orbit some satellites can remain in use, or else be elevated to a graveyard orbit . This process is becoming increasingly regulated and satellites must have a 90% chance of moving over 200 km above the geostationary belt at end of life. Space debris at geostationary orbits typically has a lower collision speed than at low Earth orbit (LEO) since all GEO satellites orbit in
2695-501: The time was that it would require too much rocket power to place a satellite in a geostationary orbit and it would not survive long enough to justify the expense, so early efforts were put towards constellations of satellites in low or medium Earth orbit. The first of these were the passive Echo balloon satellites in 1960, followed by Telstar 1 in 1962. Although these projects had difficulties with signal strength and tracking, issues that could be solved using geostationary orbits,
2750-490: The vehicle is ready for a future operational mission. According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , the rocket will likely be test-fired at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 . Musk noted that assuming the test fires went well, the stage would likely be reflown for a mission in June 2016. The first stage of the CRS-8 launch was selected to be reflown first, in early 2017. Additional tests were conducted prior to SpaceX certifying
2805-509: Was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was launched on April 8, 2016, at 20:43 UTC. It was the 23rd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, the tenth flight of a Dragon cargo spacecraft and the eighth operational mission contracted to SpaceX by NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services program. The capsule carried over 3,100 kilograms (6,800 lb) of cargo to
SECTION 50
#17327756384862860-430: Was believed that the launcher could only perform geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) missions of up to 4,850 kg (10,690 lb), but SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin disclosed that the company had reserved 450 kg (990 lb) for its own use. On 30 August 2016, it was announced that SES-10 would launch aboard a Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch vehicle no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2016. On 30 March 2017,
2915-494: Was launched in 1963. Communications satellites are often placed in a geostationary orbit so that Earth-based satellite antennas do not have to rotate to track them but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where the satellites are located. Weather satellites are also placed in this orbit for real-time monitoring and data collection, and navigation satellites to provide a known calibration point and enhance GPS accuracy. Geostationary satellites are launched via
2970-499: Was struck by a meteoroid on August 11, 1993, and eventually moved to a graveyard orbit , and in 2006 the Russian Express-AM11 communications satellite was struck by an unknown object and rendered inoperable, although its engineers had enough contact time with the satellite to send it into a graveyard orbit. In 2017, both AMC-9 and Telkom-1 broke apart from an unknown cause. A typical geostationary orbit has
3025-546: Was successfully reused. The first stage was recovered for a second time, setting another record. A third record comes from a successful splashdown of the payload fairings . SES-10 is based on the three axis stabilised Eurostar-3000 satellite bus . It has a mass of 5,282 kg (11,645 lb), produces 13 kW of power and has a design life of 15 years. It uses a hybrid approach for spacecraft propulsion, using bi-propellant propulsion for orbit raising and electric propulsion for station keeping . Its electrical system uses
#485514