RASCOM-QAF 1R

Spacecraft n°:

Intern. spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  36831 / 10037B Launch date  04 Aug 2010 - 20:59 UT Launch site  Ko, ELA-3 Launch vehicle  Ariane-5ECA (#554 - V-196) Mission  Commercial: Communication Geostationary orbit on Sep 12.90: Perigee / Apogee  35786 x 35787 km Eccentricity  1,19E-05 Inclination  0.01 deg Period  1436.1 min

Mission details:

• Low cost communications for sub-Saharan Africa; multinational organization.
• After launch, Rascom-QAF 1 suffered a Helium leak in its proulsion system and stayed about a month in the transfer orbit. End of January 2008 it finally reached the geostationary orbit, but had only fuel for a two year life time left.
• The replacement RASCOM-QAF 1R was ordered in 2007.
• Arianespace launched vehicle L554 - an Ariane 5ECA model - from Kourou on Aug 4, 2010 carrying two African satellites, both built by Thales Alenia Space (Cannes) using the Spacebus 4000 platform.
  Rascom-QAF-1R has Ku and C band payloads for telecom, broadcasting and internet service to Africa for RASCOM, the Regional African Satellite Communications Organization; it has a launch mass of 3050 kg.
• The mission saw the first use of the Sylda 5K dual-launch adapter, an enlarged version of the usual Sylda 5A. Nilesat 201 sat on top of the Sylda during launch with RASCOM stashed inside it.
  The Ariane 5 core stage flew to a -1441 x 259 km x 9.2 deg transfer trajectory. The ESC-A upper stage completed its burn at 2123 UTC and deployed the satellites into a 260 x 35770 km x 2.0 deg geostationary transfer orbit.