LIVE: Proton-M/Briz-M launch with Inmarsat 5-F2 - February 1, 2015 (1231UTC)

[Satori]

Third burn ended. Still waiting for data from ground stations.

[input~2]

Coverage of ground stations

[patchfree]

Edit: The previous values might be bogus since the burn was made over the western Pacific, probably out of stations range. Will need to wait till it reappears over Russian ground stations for new data to come in (right now it's over South America).

Why hasn't the appropriate Russian organization invested in an overseas tracking station or stations to avoid extensive coverage gaps?  Or re-invested in shipboard tracking stations?  Or contracted the chore to a 3rd party?  I know the Russian government was lacking funds 20 years ago, but not in recent years.

Or if not the Russian government, wouldn't it be in the interest of ILS to so invest just to support their Proton launches, given the substantial value of these Proton launches/year?

Will the Luch geostationary satellite system be used for tracking and data relay of launches in future, as TDRSS is today?

Curious,
Zubenelgenubi

Whole tracking will be obtained through a network of 3 Relay (Luch) spacecrafts  in the coming months. But space vehicules (launch vehicules and spacecrafts) have to be updated with new communication hardware.

[Stan Black]

From the previous Inmarsat-5 thread:-

We 'll now have a long loss of signal period which will end before 5th burn

[Nicolas PILLET]

Edit: The previous values might be bogus since the burn was made over the western Pacific, probably out of stations range. Will need to wait till it reappears over Russian ground stations for new data to come in (right now it's over South America).

Why hasn't the appropriate Russian organization invested in an overseas tracking station or stations to avoid extensive coverage gaps?  Or re-invested in shipboard tracking stations?  Or contracted the chore to a 3rd party?

If you want to make a donation to Roscosmos for that, it will be greatly appreciated !

[zubenelgenubi]

Edit: The previous values might be bogus since the burn was made over the western Pacific, probably out of stations range. Will need to wait till it reappears over Russian ground stations for new data to come in (right now it's over South America).

Why hasn't the appropriate Russian organization invested in an overseas tracking station or stations to avoid extensive coverage gaps?  Or re-invested in shipboard tracking stations?  Or contracted the chore to a 3rd party?

If you want to make a donation to Roscosmos for that, it will be greatly appreciated !

Yes, as soon as the direct-deposit paying my "NSF consultant fee" clears.  I am getting paid for all this, right?

Is Roscosmos a 501 c 3 approved charitable organization?  You know, for justifying the charitable deduction on my income tax.

[Stan Black]

Edit: The previous values might be bogus since the burn was made over the western Pacific, probably out of stations range. Will need to wait till it reappears over Russian ground stations for new data to come in (right now it's over South America).

Why hasn't the appropriate Russian organization invested in an overseas tracking station or stations to avoid extensive coverage gaps?  Or re-invested in shipboard tracking stations?  Or contracted the chore to a 3rd party?

If you want to make a donation to Roscosmos for that, it will be greatly appreciated !

Yes, as soon as the direct-deposit paying my "NSF consultant fee" clears.  I am getting paid for all this, right?

Is Roscosmos a 501 c 3 approved charitable organization?  You know, for justifying the charitable deduction on my income tax.

It is curious that Energia covers gaps for it’s upper stage with mobile tracking stations?
http://www.energia.ru/eng/land-launch/scheme.html
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23142.msg734103#msg734103

[zubenelgenubi]

Edit: The previous values might be bogus since the burn was made over the western Pacific, probably out of stations range. Will need to wait till it reappears over Russian ground stations for new data to come in (right now it's over South America).

Why hasn't the appropriate Russian organization invested in an overseas tracking station or stations to avoid extensive coverage gaps?  Or re-invested in shipboard tracking stations?  Or contracted the chore to a 3rd party?

If you want to make a donation to Roscosmos for that, it will be greatly appreciated !

Yes, as soon as the direct-deposit paying my "NSF consultant fee" clears.  I am getting paid for all this, right?

Is Roscosmos a 501 c 3 approved charitable organization?  You know, for justifying the charitable deduction on my income tax.

It is curious that Energia covers gaps for it’s upper stage with mobile tracking stations?
http://www.energia.ru/eng/land-launch/scheme.html
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23142.msg734103#msg734103

Yes, a Russian upper-stage burn over southern South America and the phrase "entrepreneurial Chilean" had stuck in my memory from somewhere, and that somewhere is the thread you referenced!
+1 Internets to you, Stan!

Fregat doesn't have uplink command capability, so all a tracking ship could do is record telemetry if Fregat had a bad day in the southern hemisphere. That's probably not worth the cost, but if some entrepreneurial Chilean knew about this, they could set up some sort of remote station, and sell the data to the Russians.

And delayed-action +1 Internets to you, Danderman!
 

Zubenelgenubi

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Looks like the 3rd and 4th burns 6.5 hours ago went off OK...

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Good 5th Briz-M burn and spacecraft separation!

[input~2]

Separation occurred 19 seconds early

[Artyom.]

My congratulations!

[owais.usmani]

ILS PROTON SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES THE INMARSAT-5 F2 SATELLITE FOR INMARSAT; SECOND GLOBAL XPRESS®SATELLITE LAUNCH IN 3-CONSTELLATION SERIES

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, February 1, 2015 – An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M successfully placed the Inmarsat-5 F2 (I-5 F2) satellite into a super-synchronous transfer orbit (SSTO) today. The spacecraft was launched for Inmarsat, the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services. I-5 F2 is the second of three Inmarsat next-generation Global Xpress® satellites scheduled for launch on ILS Proton. This marks the first Proton launch of the year and the fourth SSTO mission for ILS, a leader in providing mission integration and launch services to the global commercial satellite industry.

The Proton launch vehicle, carrying the I-5 F2 satellite, lifted off from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome yesterday at 18:31 local time (12:31 GMT and 07:31 EST). The SSTO mission utilized a 5-burn Breeze M mission design to advance the orbital unit first to a circular parking orbit, then to an intermediate orbit, followed by a transfer orbit, and finally to a 65,000 km-apogee super-synchronous transfer orbit. After a 15-hour, 31-minute mission, the satellite was placed into the target orbit by the Proton launcher. SSTO missions provide increased heavy-lift performance over GTO mission designs, allowing our customers the capability to maximize spacecraft operational lifetime.

The satellite was manufactured by Boeing Satellite Systems International and built on the reliable 702HP platform. Weighing over 6 metric tons at lift-off, the I-5 F2 satellite has 89 Ka-band fixed beams and 6 steerable ones. I-5 F2 is designed to generate approximately 15 kilowatts of power at the start of service and approximately 13.8 kilowatts at the end of its 15-year design life. To generate such high power, the spacecraft's two solar wings employ five panels of ultra-triple-junction solar cells.

Global Xpress will be the first globally available, high-speed broadband network, delivered through a single network operator.  It will deliver broadband speeds more than 100 times faster than the company’s fourth generation (I-4) constellation while maintaining, the network reliability for which Inmarsat is renowned.  Based on Ka-band technology, Global Xpress will offer new opportunities for end-users in both public and private sectors, to significantly enhance their connectivity and to access bandwidth-hungry applications, even in the most inaccessible regions of the world.

ILS President Phil Slack stated, “It is a true honor for ILS and Khrunichev to be entrusted with the launch of the Global Xpress network for industry innovator, Inmarsat. The Inmarsat-5 F2 launch will enable ground breaking satellite communications connectivity via land, sea and air, as part of the three-satellite system launched by ILS Proton. We thank the dedicated teams at Inmarsat, Boeing, Khrunichev and ILS for their successful work on the I-5 F2 mission and we are poised to support the next mission for Inmarsat with the I-5 F3 satellite.”
“Global Xpress is a truly transformational technology and, as we complete its global roll-out, 2015 promises to be one of the most significant chapters in our company’s history. Through Global Xpress, the world can move forward from the ‘Internet of Everything’ to the ‘Internet of Everywhere’, in which high-speed, reliable and secure connectivity is available anywhere and at any time – even in the most inaccessible regions – for customers on the move or to fixed locations,” said Rupert Pearce, CEO, Inmarsat. “I am grateful for the teams at Inmarsat and Boeing for their work on this program. We also thank our partners at ILS and Khrunichev for ensuring that this mission was successful. We look forward to the ILS Proton launch of I-5 F3 this year.”

The I-5 F2 launch marked the 402nd launch for Proton since its maiden flight in 1965 and the 88th ILS Proton Launch overall. This was also the 17th Boeing-built satellite launched on an ILS Proton and the 4th Inmarsat satellite launched on Proton overall. The Proton M Breeze M vehicle is developed and built by Khrunichev Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, Russia’s premier space industry manufacturer and majority shareholder in ILS.

http://www.ilslaunch.com/newsroom/news-releases/ils-proton-successfully-launches-inmarsat-5-f2-satellite-inmarsat-second-glob

[Artyom.]

Launch photos from Khrunichev

http://www.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=325

[Artyom.]

Roscosmos video of the launch:

[input~2]

USSTRATCOM has catalogued the spacecraft:
2015-005A/ 40384 in 4,367 x 64,969 km @ 26.79°
Arg of perigee: 180.06°  Epoch: Feb 2, 15:39 UTC

[Artyom.]

More photos of the launch.

And frozen camera .