LIVE: Proton-M/Briz-M – Ekspress-AM5 – 26th December 2013 (10:50 UTC)

[fatjohn1408]

Finally the spacecraft was tracked yesterday.
From TLEs published to-day:
Old Object A (the DTB/APT) is now object C (2013-077C/39489)
New Object A is the spacecraft:
2013-077A/ 39487 in 33772 x 37618 km x 0.163° (epoch Jan 10, 1745UTC)
New Object B is Briz-M:
2013-077B/ 39488 in 36825 x 41343 km x 0.694° (epoch Jan 10, 1640UTC)

Thanks JSPOC!

It's interesting the Briz-M went into a higher orbit. Is there also a possibility for it to go to a 15000 x 34000 orbit for example or is that not a good graveyard orbit?

The question is because electric propulsion might be used more often to inject spacecraft GTO+ orbits might be used as target orbits. From a target orbit of e.g. 36000 x 15000 it will require a lot of fuel to put the upper stage into either a GEO+ orbit or a re-entry orbit.

[owais.usmani]

The satellite has reached its target GEO orbit. In-orbit testing has started, operational service expected to start in first half of May:

http://www.iss-reshetnev.ru/?cid=news&nid=1746

http://www.rscc.ru/news/news_company/1378.html

[Artyom.]

And in English  :

Express-AM5 satellite reaches operational orbit


The satellite which was launched on December 26, 2013 has arrived at the orbital slot of 145° East. It took the satellite 73 days instead of the expected 90 to arrive at its destination using on-board electrical propulsion system. Such a transfer injection scenario was applied for the first time not only in the history of ISS-Reshetnev Company but of the whole Russian aerospace industry as well. It was decided to do so because a Proton-M/Breeze-M rocket’s launch capacity appeared to be insufficient to deliver the 3358-kilogram Express-AM5 satellite directly to the assigned orbital position in GEO.

http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/?cid=news&nid=311

Russia’s new communications and broadcasting satellite, Express-AM5, now being tested

March 11, 2014 saw the beginning of Express-AM5 acceptance tests.  Express-AM5 is Russia’s new heavy satellite launched on 26 December 2013.

The satellite is scheduled to be commissioned by RSCC in May 2014. Positioned in the 140˚E orbital slot, the satellite will ensure robust coverage of Siberia and the Far East.

http://eng.rscc.ru/100/177/466.html

[russianhalo117]

Developing spacecraft anomaly with risk of loss of mission:
Ekspress-AM5, like one of its Ekspress-AM generational siblings AM6 has experienced a thermal control system cooling loop failure requiring increasing communications payload transponder shutdowns during the daylight solar exposure hours with others now permanently shutdown to avoid frying the spacecraft via excessive thermal loading triggering the risks of achieving thermal runaway. Customers are being transferred to available transponders on satellites of the Ekspress-AMU generation. So far these two Ekspress-AM generation anomalies are limited solely to spacecraft using the Ekspress-2000 spacecraft bus family.

https://russianspaceweb.com/proton_ekspress_am5.html#2023