SES 4 (NSS 14)

Spacecraft n°:

Netherlands spacecraft n°: 9

Launch data: Designation  38087 / 12007A Launch date  14 Feb 2012 - 19:36 UT Launch site  Baikonur, LC-200/39 Launch vehicle  Proton-M / Briz-M (#373) Mission  Commercial: Communication Geostationary orbit on Feb 29.03: Perigee / Apogee  35784 x 35788 km Eccentricity  0.00005 Inclination  0.10 deg Period  1436.08 min

Credit: SSLoral

Spacecraft data: Prime manufacturer  Space Systems Loral (SSL) Platform  LS-1300 Operator  SES New Skies --> SES World Skies Mass at launch  6180 kg Dry Mass  3073 kg Basic shape  Box + 2 panels Dimension (m)   Equipment  52 C-band transponders and 72 Ku-band transpondersto provide service to Europe/Middle East, West Africa, North America and South America. Solar array  2 deployable solar arrays Stabilization   Propulsion  R-4D, 4 SPT-100 plasma thrusters DC power  20000 W Design lifetime  > million years (active: 15 yrs)

SES 4 ready for launch

Location:

Description:

• SES NEW SKIES ordered in February 2008 the NSS 14 satellite from Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). It will be the largest satellite ordered by SES so far. In early 2010, the satellite was renamed SES 4.
• An International Launch Services Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage will deploy the SES 4 satellite to provide telecommunications services over the Americas, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
• SES-4 is the largest satellite in SES’s fleet, weighing 6.18 metric tons to be located at 338°east; the largest neighborhood in the Atlantic. Built on the flight-proven Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform, SES-4 will be a hybrid satellite featuring 52 high powered C-band coverage and incremental global capacity for video distribution, government and VSAT services. The satellite’s 72 Ku-band payload will provide enhanced capacity across three continents, with coverage in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Western Africa and Latin America.

Mission details:

• Delayed from November 2011. Moved up from Dec. 28. Scrubbed by technical issue on Dec. 26, 2011.
• Dec26, 2011: The launch of an ILS Proton launch vehicle with the SES-4 satellite was postponed today for approximately 25 days for technical reasons associated with the avionics system of the launch vehicle’s Breeze M upper stage. The additional time is needed due to the required destacking and replacement of the affected avionics unit. The satellite is being launched for SES of Luxembourg and was built by Space Systems/Loral.
  The delay was called after Khrunichev engineers at the launch site received an anomalous telemetry reading on the Breeze M upper stage during preflight testing. The vehicle and satellite remain in a safe configuration at the launch site.
  The problem is a failure of the inertially stabilized platform of Briz-M upper stage. The equipment should be replaced and re-tested.
• Delayed from Jan 21 and Jan 28, 2012. According to NK forum, due to first stage problems, launch was postponed, at least to mid-February. The launcher was removed from pad to assembly and test building.
• The ILS Proton Breeze M is launched from Pad 39 at the Cosmodrome at 1:36 a.m. local time (2:36 p.m. EST, 20:36 GMT on February 14). The 6180 kg Loral-1300 spacecraft will replace NSS-7 at 22 West.
  The satellite is owned by SES Satellite Leasing (UK) and will be transferred to SES World Skies (based in the Hague) once in its target orbit.
• This was the 373rd launch for Proton since its inaugural flight in 1965. The Proton Breeze M launch vehicle was developed and built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, one of the pillars of the space industry and the majority shareholder in ILS
• The Briz-M stage reached a 3640 x 35762 km x 24.5 deg orbit.
• After a 9 hour, 12-minute mission, the Briz M successfully released the SES-4 satellite into geostationary transfer orbit; by Feb 17, 2012 SES-4 was in an 8946 x 35759 km x 13.4 deg.
• The SES-4 communications satellite reached its checkout orbit at the 26W Atlantic Ocean slot on Feb 29, 2012. At launch it was owned by SES Satellite Leasing (Isle of Man); it will be operated by SES World Skies (Den Haag).