This VA254 mission for two long-standing customers clearly reflects the excellence of Arianespace’s services and relations of mutual trust with its customers.

Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 launch from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana, is scheduled for Friday, July 30, during a launch window from 21:00 to 22:30 UTC. Initially planned for July 27, the mission was rescheduled after a revision to the preparation schedule.

The two satellites are being launched for two long-standing Arianespace customers: Embratel, the largest satellite operator in Brazil and Latin America and Eutelsat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators. Arianespace has already orbited 11 satellites for Embratel and 35 satellites for Eutelsat.

Star One D2 is a high-capacity, multi-mission satellite with Ku-, Ka-, C- and X-band transponders that will enable it to expand broadband coverage to new regions in Central and South America, provide internet access to underserved populations and add an updated X-band payload for government use over the Atlantic region. Built on Maxar’s proven 1300-class platform at the company’s Palo Alto, California, manufacturing facility, Star One D2 will improve access to high-quality services, serving the parabolic fleet in Brazil, Pay TV, cell phone backhaul, data, video and Internet for corporate customers and government agencies.

EUTELSAT QUANTUM was developed under a public-private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA), operator Eutelsat and Airbus Defence and Space. Using a software-based design, EUTELSAT QUANTUM will be the world’s first universal satellite to repeatedly adjust to business requirements. It features an electronically steerable receiving antenna and operates in Ku-band with eight independent reconfigurable beams. This configuration allows the operator to reconfigure in-orbit the radio-frequency beams over the coverage zones, providing unprecedented flexibility in data, government and mobility services.

This mission will use the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher developed and manufactured by ArianeGroup within the scope of a joint European government-industry program. Arianespace is responsible for marketing and operating Ariane 5 launches from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The French space agency CNES is the launcher design authority and ESA is the project owner of the program. ArianeGroup is in charge of all design and production, from initial design studies, upgrades and manufacturing, to the supply of data and software for each mission. Its specific responsibilities include the production of equipment, structures and propulsion systems, integration of the different stages, and integration of the complete launcher in French Guiana.

Source:  Arianespace
Associated URL: arianespace.com

This first phase, HyPha Study, defined early system requirements and explored network architectures, as well as the technologies necessary for future implementation. Subsequently, activities will be carried out to build first IOD (In-Orbit Demonstrator) flight demonstrators to test and mature space optical network solutions for satellite and terrestrial operators usage, that will be operating in the future market.

For this study, Thales Alenia Space, reinforced by its expertise in the production of optical technologies for space developed in Zurich, coordinated a work group, involving Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo 67% and Thales 33%, as a satellite operator, Open Fiber as the "wholesale-only" infrastructure operator, providing access and transport networks, entirely in optical fiber to more than 200 operators in Italy, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, an academic institution with expertise in free space communication systems FSO (Free Space Optics).

This initiative contributes to Europe's technological independence in connectivity services through space (Fiber in the sky / Internet beyond the Cloud(s)) and to the expansion of its capacities towards new types of services and applications (Cloud in the sky, IP Routing On-Board Satellite, extra-territorial service capacities, etc.).

About optical satellite connectivity

In FSO, lasers are used to establish a transmission link with optical receptors (photodiodes) for reception. One advantage of using lasers, or better direct and collimated links, is that these links are very difficult to intercept, assuring a naturally very secure communication process. But above all, by exploiting the technique of wavelength multiplexing commonly used in terrestrial fiber connections, it is possible to create FSO links with capacities of hundreds of Gbit/s. This is much higher than bandwidths of current radio-frequency technologies, thus allowing to meet increasing network bandwidth requests. Moreover, satellite connectivity is always available in its coverage area and does not require complex infrastructure to be deployed (poles, lines, exchanges, etc.).

Recent studies show that the ultra-broadband digital connectivity demand increased significantly during the past years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that it is now essential for families and businesses to have fast data connections. By integrating seamlessly with the terrestrial optical fiber networks, satellite systems employing FSO technologies will empower telecommunications infrastructures to be able to meet growing demand, support 5G and to enable new, innovative applications using Artificial Intelligence and Internet-of-Things.

Source:  Thales
Associated URL: thalesgroup.com

The May 15 anomaly occurred after 17 successful orbital flights of the Electron launch vehicle which has deployed more than 100 satellites to orbit since 2018. Immediately following the anomaly, Rocket Lab launched a rigorous internal review, assembling its investigation team with oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The investigation team scoured thousands of channels of telemetry and systems data from the flight and worked systematically through an extensive fault tree analysis to determine the cause of the failure.

The review concluded that an issue occurred within the second stage engine igniter system almost three minutes and 20 seconds into the flight. This induced a corruption of signals within the engine computer that caused the Rutherford engine’s thrust vector control (TVC) to deviate outside nominal parameters and resulted in the engine computer commanding zero pump speed, shutting down the engine.

The igniter fault resulted from a previously undetectable failure mode within the ignition system that occurs under a unique set of environmental pressures and conditions. The issue was not evident during extensive pre-flight testing for this mission, including more than 400 seconds of burn for this particular engine, more than 1,500 Rutherford engine hot fires to date, and 17 successful orbital launches. Rocket Lab has since been able to reliably replicate the issue in testing and has implemented redundancies in the ignition system to prevent any future reoccurrence, including modifications to the igniter’s design and manufacture.

The anomaly review confirmed that Electron’s first stage performed flawlessly during the mission and did not contribute to the flight issue. As a result, Rocket Lab was able to conduct a successful reentry, ocean splashdown and recovery of the first stage as planned, marking a major milestone in the company’s program to make Electron a reusable launch vehicle.

Satisfied with its own review of the May 15 launch, the FAA confirmed in June that Rocket Lab’s launch license remains active. With corrective measures now in place, Rocket Lab is returning to the pad with an even more reliable launch vehicle to meet a busy launch schedule in the second half of 2021. Details of the next Electron mission will be made available in the coming days.

Source:  Rocket Lab
Associated URL: rocketlabusa.com