NSS 8

Launch data: Designation  07F01 Launch date  30 Jan 2007 - 23:22 UT Launch site  Odyssey, POR Launch vehicle  Zenit-3SL (#24) Mission  Telecommunications Decay  30 Jan 2007

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  Boeing Sea Launch Operator  New Skies Satellites Platform  BSS-702 Mass at launch  5920 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Solar array  (triple junction gallium arsenide) Stabilization   Equipment  Four 25-cm XIPS DC power  BOL: 18 kW

NSS-8 orbital Phases

C-band:

Ku-band:

Mission details:

• The sixth satellite in the SES NEW SKIES fleet, NSS-8 was a 5,920 kg high-power craft that would had provide coverage to two-thirds of the world’s population, serving countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Asia. It was a Boeing 702 spacecraft that carries 56 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders designed to replace the existing NSS-703 satellite as the centerpiece of NEW SKIES’ strategic Indian Ocean contribution to SES’ global communications network. NSS-8 would had support a wide range of functions, including corporate communications, government and military operations, broadband Internet services and broadcast applications Designed for a 15-year lifespan, NSS-8 was to had been placed into geosynchronous orbit at 57° East Longitude. (A successful launch of NSS-8 would had subsequently allow for NSS-703 to be re-deployed to the Atlantic Ocean region at 340° East, further boosting the global coverage and connectivity provided by the 40 plus strong fleet of satellites in the SES Group. The launch failure of NSS-8 means that NSS-703 will now stay at 57° East in order to continue to serve existing customers until at least 2009.)

Mission details:

• Boeing Sea Launch suffered a dramatic failure on Jan 30 when the Ukrainian/Russian Zenit-3SL launch vehicle failed just after ignition and fell back onto its floating launch platform. The New Skies NSS 8 communications satellite payload was destroyed.
• Satellite planned for location over 57°E.
• The Zenith-3SL first stage ignited and appears to have failed to develop sufficient thrust to allow lift-off. The launch vehicle exploded on the Odyssey launch platform when the bulkhead between the liquid oxygen and kerosene tanks ruptured.
• The Blok DM-SL was intented to complete two burns; the first burn would have placed it and the satellite into a 0 deg, 180-230km orbit and second would have deployed the satellite in a 0 deg, 250-37246 km geosynchronous transfer orbit.
• Investigators traced the cause of the failure to a piece of metallic debris lodged inside the engine's liquid oxygen turbopump, according to a Sea Launch. "This object ignited and burned as a result of friction-induced heat," the statement said. "The combustion set off a string of events that led to the destruction of the (liquid oxygen) pump, RD-171M engine and ultimately the Zenit 3SL.