Eutelsat W2A

Spacecraft n°:

EUTELSAT spacecraft n°: 34

Launch data: Designation  34710 / 09016A Launch date  03 Apr 2009 - 16:24 UT Launch site  B, LC-200/39 Launch vehicle  Proton-M / Briz-M Mission  Commercial: Communication Geostationary orbit on Apr 12.20: Perigee / Apogee  35708 x 35735 km Eccentricity  4.86E-04 Inclination  0.09 deg Period  1432.78 min

Mission details:

• The rollout video (courtesy of Roscosmos & YouTube).
  
• International Launch Services delivered the Eutelsat W2A satellite to orbit on a Khrunichev Proton-M/Briz-M on Apr 3, 2009. The Thales-Alenia Spacebus 4000C4 carries a Ku, S and C-band communications payload.
• Eutelsat W2A separated from the Briz-M stage at 01:33 UTC on Apr 4 into a 4990 x 35899 km x 20.7 deg geostationary transfer orbit; intermediate orbits in the five-burn ascent were -448 x 186 km x 48.0 deg, 132 x 274 km x 48.0 deg, 239 x 5002 km x 46.8 deg, 299 x 14988 km x 46.1 deg and 398 x 35666 km x 45.6 deg. The Briz-M DTB tank was jettisoned into the 299 x 14988 km orbit at 2002 UTC.
• Five manoeuvres were used by the Briz-M fourth stage to place Eutelsat W2A into its separation orbit (MET is mission elapsed time):

  Burn 1:  MET =     11m 15s  to     17m 50s      Parking orbit injection       51.5 deg,    173 -    173 km
  Burn 2:  MET =  1h 07m 40s  to  1h 25m 10s      Intermediate orbit            50.3 deg,    265 -  5,000 km
  Burn 3:  MET =  3h 29m 04s  to  3h 45m 13s      Depletion of Briz-M tank propellant
           MET =  3h 46m 03s                      Separation of Briz-M auxiliary propellant tank
  Burn 4:  MET =  3h 47m 38s  to  3h 48m 59s      Transfer orbit                49.1 deg,    400 – 35,792 km
  Burn 5:  MET =  8h 50m 30s  to  9h 00m 51s      Target orbit                   8.4 deg, 14,160 – 35,786 km
           MET =  9h 15m 00s                      Satellite separation from Briz-M
  

• Satellite initially located over 1 deg E: manoeuvred off-station approximately May 1, 2009 and drifting to the east in mid-May. It is to be operated over 10 deg E.
• 46 Ku-band, 10 C-band transponders.