SES-9

Overview

SES-9

mission type	Communications
operator	SES‡R1R‡
cospar id	2016-013A
satcat	41380
website	https://www.ses.com/
mission duration	15 years (planned) (elapsed)
spacecraft type	Boeing 702
spacecraft bus	BSS-702HP‡R1R‡
manufacturer	Boeing
launch mass	5271 kg
launch date	4 March 2016, 23:35 UTC
launch rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust
launch site	Cape Canaveral, SLC-40
launch contractor	SpaceX
orbit reference	Geocentric orbit
orbit regime	geostationary orbit
orbit longitude	108.2° East
apsis	gee
trans band	33 Ku-band
trans bandwidth	36 Mhz, 54 MHz
trans coverage	Northeast Asia, South Asia, Indonesia
programme	SES constellation
previous mission	SES-8
next mission	SES-10

SES-9 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by SES It was launched from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 by a Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch vehicle on 4 March 2016.

Satellite description

SES-9 is a large communications satellite operating in geostationary orbit at the 108.2° East, providing communications services to Northeast Asia, South Asia and Indonesia, maritime communications for vessels in the Indian Ocean,[2] and mobility beams for "seamless in-flight connectivity" for domestic Asian airlines of Indonesia and the Philippines.[3]

The satellite was built by Boeing, using a model BSS-702HP satellite bus.

Launch operations

Contract and scheduling

In addition to the earlier SES-8 mission ordered in 2011 and launched in 2013, SES contracted SpaceX for three additional launches starting with SES-9, originally planned for 2015. The deal was announced on 12 September 2012.[6] In early 2015, SES announced[7] that it would be the launch customer of the next rocket evolution by SpaceX: Falcon 9 v1.1 Full Thrust (also called Falcon 9 v1.2,[8] and later, just Falcon 9 Full Thrust). At the time, SES expected SES-9 to be launched by September 2015. Despite the failure of the CRS-7 mission in June 2015, SES re-confirmed in September 2015 their decision to provide the first payload for the new rocket variant; however the launch was postponed until late 2015.[9]

Eventually, after considering all options, SpaceX announced a change on 16 October 2015: Orbcomm's 11 Orbcomm-OG2 satellites would be the payload on the return-to-flight mission of the redesigned rocket instead of SES-9.[10] The Orbcomm payload with its lower orbit would allow SpaceX to test relighting the second-stage engine, a capability required to successfully put the heavier SES-9 on a geostationary orbit.[10] The Orbcomm mission was subsequently delayed to mid-December 2015, while SES-9 was scheduled to follow "within a few weeks".[10] Finally, Falcon 9 Full Thrust performed its maiden launch on 22 December 2015, the final launch of the Falcon 9 v1.1 variant followed in January 2016, with SES-9 moving to February 2016. Consequently, this was the second launch of the Full Thrust variant.

Launch attempts

A successful static fire test of the rocket was completed on 22 February 2016.[11]

The launch was initially scheduled for 24 February 2016 at 23:46 UTC, with a backup launch window the next day at the same time.[3] Neither day produced a launch however as both attempts were scrubbed: on 24 February 2016, prior to propellant loading "out of an abundance of caution, in order to get the rocket's liquid oxygen propellant as cold as possible"; and on 25 February 2016, just two minutes prior to launch "citing a last-minute problem with propellant loading".[16]

Subsequently, the launch was rescheduled for the evening of 28 February 2016 at 23:47 UTC, with a fallback slot same time next day.[17] On 28 February 2016, launch attempt was aborted less than two minutes before scheduled liftoff due to a tugboat entering the area of the offshore safety zone.[18]

Orbit adjustment

The original apogee for the transfer orbit contracted by SpaceX was 26000 km, a subsynchronous highly-elliptical orbit that SES would then circularize and raise over several months before the satellite would be ready for operational service at 36000 km. SES CTO Martin Halliwell indicated in February 2016 that SpaceX had agreed to add additional energy to the spacecraft with the launch vehicle and that a new apogee of approximately 39000 km was the objective, in order to assist SES in the satellite becoming operational many weeks earlier than otherwise possible,

Post-mission landing test

Following word from SES that SpaceX had allocated some of the normal propellant reserve margins for landing to placing the SES-9 satellite in a higher (and more energetic) orbit than originally planned,[22]

SpaceX confirmed in February 2016 that they would still attempt a secondary goal<!-- secondary nature is explicit in[23][3] Although SpaceX successfully recovered a first booster on land following the December launch to a less-energetic orbital trajectory,[24][25] they had not yet succeeded in booster recovery from any of the previous attempts to land on a floating platform.[23]

SES-9

Satellite description

Market and coverage

Launch operations

Contract and scheduling

Launch attempts

Orbit adjustment

Post-mission landing test

See also

External links

References