BRIsat

Launch data: Designation  41591 / 16039A Launch date  18 June 2016 - 21:38:32 UTC  (6:38 p.m. French Guiana time) Launch site  Ko, ELA-3 Launch vehicle  Ariane-5ECA (L584) Mission  Commerc.: Communication Geostationary orbit: Perigee / Apogee  35709 x 35883 km Eccentricity  2,09E-03 Inclination  0.07 ° Period  1436.2 min

Spacecraft data: Prime manufacturer  Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) Platform  SSL-1300 Operator  Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) Mass at launch  3540 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Equipment  36 Ku-band and nine C-band transponders Solar array   Stabilization   Propulsion   DC power  2 deployable solar arrays Design lifetime  + 15 yrs Location: Date Position Remarks  Dec 2016   150.5° E

The BRIsat spacecraft was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California. Credit: Space Systems/Loral

Description:

• The Indonesian BRIsat (Bank Rakyat Indonesia Satellite) is a communications satellite for banking purposes to be built by Space Systems/Loral for PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) of Jakarta. First satellite owned and operated by a bank. Will expand secure banking communications to almost 60 million customers across the Indonesia archipelago.
• The craft will expand secure banking communications to almost 60 million customers across the Indonesia archipelago, including locations where banking services were previously unavailable, according to BRI.
• Despite some claims to the contrary this is NOT the first satellite launched intended to be dedicated to banking, but the second; it follows the Russian Central Bank's Kupon satelite which operated for a few months in 1997-1998. It's unlikely Kupon ever entered operational service, though.

Mission details:

• The Ariane 5´s liquid propellant tanks were pressurized for flight, and the rocket´s first stage Vulcain 2 main engine fired at 2138:32 GMT (5:38:32 p.m. EDT) as the clocks reached zero.
  Seven seconds later, after the Vulcain main engine passed a computer health check, the Ariane 5´s twin solid rocket boosters ignited with a thump of sound, propelling the 180-foot-tall (55-meter) rocket into the sky over Kourou, French Guiana, a few minutes before sunset.
  Riding 2.9 million pounds [12.9 million N] of thrust, the Ariane 5 climbed through scattered clouds backdropped by an orange sky, soared into the upper atmosphere and dropped its two solid rocket boosters less than two-and-a-half minutes into the mission.
  A nose cone covering the EchoStar 18 and BRIsat satellites jettisoned about a minute later, and the Ariane 5´s first stage Vulcain 2 engine shut down about nine minutes after liftoff as the rocket streaked across the Atlantic Ocean at hypersonic speed.
  The HM7B engine powering the rocket´s upper stage took over to accelerate the launcher and its satellite passengers to nearly 21,000 mph [33,796 kph] (about 9.3 kilometers per second).
  The 13,889-pound (6.3-metric ton) EchoStar 18 spacecraft separated from the Ariane 5 launcher´s upper position about 29 minutes into the flight, followed at the 42-minute point by deployment of BRIsat from the lower berth of the rocket´s dual-payload holder.
  The mission aimed to put EchoStar 18 and BRIsat into a geostationary transfer orbit ranging in altitude from 155 miles (250 kilometers) to 22,224 miles (35,766 kilometers), with an inclination of 6 degrees.
• BRIsat is heading toward a parking slot in geostationary orbit at 150.5 degrees east longitude.

External links:

• Satellite tracking: Real time satellite tracking