LIVE: Proton-M launch with BADR-5 - 3 June 2010

[klausd]

[Satori]

[patchfree]

Perfect launch at the moment...

[Chris Bergin]

First burn of Breeze-M complete.

LOS.

[Satori]

Ok! That's all for me guys! Have a good night!

Remember that this a 9 hour long mission!!!

[Chris Bergin]

Webcast over, thanks to Rui

[kollapsderwellenfunktion]

second burn completed and confirmed.

[edkyle99]

Third and fourth Briz M burns performed.  Now in a five hour coast to apogee.

 - Ed Kyle

[Satori]

Fifth burn confirmed. Waiting for satellite separation...

[Satori]

Launch images from Roscosmos at http://www.roscosmos.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=10995

[Lewis007]

Another launch pic from the Khrunichev website

[Satori]

Launch time was 2200:07.997UTC.

[Satori]

Badr-5 separation confirmed by ILS. Congratulations for a successful mission!

TV Roscosmos video of the launch...

http://www.youtube.com/v/zia7P4ACmx8&hl=pt_PT&fs=1&

[Satori]

High resolution launch photo is available here.

According to Khrunichev, spacecraft separation took place at 0713:08.320UTC.

[Satori]

Press-release from ILS (http://www.ilslaunch.com/news-060410)

ILS PROTON SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES BADR-5 FOR ARABSAT
4th ILS PROTON MISSION OF 2010; 6th PROTON IN 5 MONTHS

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, June 4, 2010 – International Launch Services (ILS), a leading launch services provider for the global commercial satellite industry, successfully carried the BADR-5 satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit today on an ILS Proton for Arabsat of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat is the largest satellite operator in the Middle East and North Africa and has been ranked the ninth largest satellite operator in the world.

This was the fourth ILS Proton launch and the 6th overall Proton launch this year. The BADR-5 satellite, built by EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, was also the 23nd consecutive successful Proton launch in 23 months.

The ILS Proton Breeze M launched from Pad 39 at the Cosmodrome at 4:00 a.m. today local time (6:00 p.m. EDT, 11:00 p.m. GMT).  After a nine-hour, 13-minute mission, the Breeze M successfully released the BADR-5 satellite, weighing 5420 kg, into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

This was the 357th launch for Proton since its inaugural flight in 1965, and the 60th ILS Proton launch overall. The Proton Breeze M launch vehicle was developed and built by Khrunichev Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, one of the pillars of the Russian space industry and the majority shareholder in ILS.

The BADR-5 satellite was built on Astrium’s E3000 platform with a Thales Alenia Space supplied communications payload. BADR-5 will be collocated with the BADR-4 and BADR-6 Direct-to-Home satellites at Arabsat’s 26 degrees East longitude video “hot spot”. BADR-5 will provide the highest level of service within the MENA region. The satellite carries 56 Ku-band transponders 4 Ka-band transponders and has been designed to have a minimum expected service time of 15 years.

Frank McKenna, ILS President said, “It was an honor to be entrusted to launch BADR-5, a powerful satellite and the first of Arabsat’s 5th generation satellites to expand the communications capabilities for the region. Working with our long term partners at Astrium, Arabsat and Thales and our partner Khrunichev, this program was flawlessly coordinated from contract to launch. Our congratulations and thanks go out to the entire team for their tireless efforts and exceptional performance with this on time launch on ILS Proton.  ”

“This was our 14th launch with ILS,” said Evert Dudok, CEO of Astrium Satellites, “and our experience with ILS and Khrunichev over the years has clearly demonstrated that they are a high performing team. As a world leader in telecommunication satellites, we are particularly pleased to be a key part of this important new step for this Arabsat mission of expansion and growth.”

Mr. Khalid Balkheyour, Arabsat President and CEO said, “The launch of BADR-5 on ILS Proton was a significant event, kicking off the expansion of our fleet with the first of the new 5th generation Arabsat satellites with an unprecedented service for the MENA region. A special thank you to our collective teams at ILS, Khrunichev, Astrium and Thales. This satellite was launched on-time with perfect execution and will support our leadership role in the providing telecommunication services to the Arab world.”

[input~2]

Still some discrepancies between the Khrunichev and the ILS published launch sequences:
Briz-M burns duration:
1st burn:  428s.(Khrunichev),  429s (ILS)
3rd burn: 725s.(Khrunichev), 729s (ILS)
4th burn: 305s (Khrunichev), 301s (ILS)

As was the case for SES-1 launch, the ILS figures appear to have been the nominal ones and most burns lasted less than planned:

Burn #     nominal          Briz-M telemetry
                duration         observations
1                    429s         419s
2                 1046s        1026s
3                     729s        733s
4                    301s          no data
5                     433s         427s

[Liss]

Another interesting disrepancy is the number of transponders.
As of May 29, ILS and others listed 46 Ku + 4 Ka.
By the day of launch, ILS started to show 56 Ku + 4 Ka, and Roscosmos said 56 only.
Arabsat's own "BADR-5 main data" fact sheet at http://www.arabsat.com/Uploads/Satellites/Files/634116914400156250.pdf still lists 46 + 4, and while they do list Ka-band uplink frequency, they do not show Ku-band downlink.
Meanwhile, the fact sheet list of downlinks matches the frequencies already in use by Badr-5 (e.g. 10729 MHz and others in 10.70-10.95 GHz downlink band).
So, I am at loss with this bird.