SES-10, is a geostationary

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth ...

awarded in February 2014, owned and operated by

SES S.A. SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish-French satellite telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and insti ...

and designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space on the Eurostar-3000

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...

. It is positioned at the 67° West position thanks to an agreement with the

Andean Community The Andean Community ( es, Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact ...

to use the Simón Bolivar-2 satellite network. It replaces

AMC-3 AMC-3 (formerly GE-3) is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES World Skies, part of SES S.A. (and formerly GE Americom, then SES Americom). Launched on 4 September 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, AMC-3 is a hybrid ...

and AMC-4 to provide enhanced coverage and significant capacity expansion. The satellite has a pure

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

payload with 55 transponders offering

direct-to-home Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

(DTH) broadcasting and enterprise and broadband connectivity. Its three wide beams cover

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the Caribbean,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and Spanish-speaking

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. After several delays, SES-10 was launched on 30 March 2017 aboard a

Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon 9 Full Thrust (also known as Falcon 9 v1.2, with variants Block 1 to Block 5) is a partially reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Designed in 2014–2015, Falcon 9 Full Thrust began launch operations ...

. The launch marked the first time in aerospace history that an orbital-class first stage was successfully reused. The first stage was recovered for a second time, setting another record. A third record comes from a successful splashdown of the payload fairings.

Satellite description

SES-10 is based on the three axis stabilised Eurostar-3000

. It has a mass of , produces 13 kW of power and has a design life of 15 years. It uses a hybrid approach for spacecraft propulsion, using bi-propellant propulsion for orbit raising and

electric propulsion Spacecraft electric propulsion (or just electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generate thrust to modify the velocity of a sp ...

for station keeping. Its electrical system uses a

Hall-effect thruster In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall-effect thrusters (based on the discovery by Edwin Hall) are sometimes referred to as Hall thruste ...

with a

Xenon Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

regulator and feed system supplied by

ArianeGroup ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aeros ...

. ArianeGroup also supplies 14 S10-21 thrusters for the

reaction control system A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control and translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels are used for attitude control. Use of diverted engine thrust to provide stable attitude cont ...

, plus 17 pyrovalves and 13 fill and drain valves. Its payload comprises 55 Ku-band

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight tran ...

arranged in three wide beams. The first beam covers Mexico,

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and the Caribbean, the second beam covers Hispanic South America, and the third beam is dedicated to Brazil.

History

On 20 February 2014, SES S.A. ordered a new satellite, SES-10 from Airbus Defence and Space. It was to be built on the Eurostar-3000 satellite bus, weight , produce 13 kW of power and have a design life of 15 years. It would be positioned in the 67° West orbital position, which belonged to the Simón Bolivar-2 registry belonging to the Andean Community. From there, it would offer an all

Ka-band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as frequencies in the range 26.5–40 gigahertz (GHz), i.e. wavelengths from slightly over one centime ...

to Latin American and the Caribbean. On the same day, SES disclosed that they had contracted with SpaceX for launch services. While initially thought to be launched aboard a

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle that is produced by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. The rocket consists of two strap-on boosters made from Falcon 9 first stages, a center core also made from a Falc ...

due to performance limitations of the

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pay ...

, it was clarified that it would, in fact, launch aboard the smaller rocket. At that time, it was believed that the launcher could only perform

geosynchronous transfer orbit A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step f ...

(GTO) missions of up to , but SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin disclosed that the company had reserved for its own use. On 30 August 2016, it was announced that SES-10 would launch aboard a

launch vehicle no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2016. On 30 March 2017, the launch from Pad

LC-39A Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, were first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle. T ...

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

, Cape Canaveral,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, became the first to reuse an orbital rocket's first stage, booster B1021, previously launched on the 23rd Falcon 9 mission that launched CRS-8. After delivering the payload, the first stage landed on a drone ship, becoming the first orbital rocket stage to return from space for the second time. Additionally, one clamshell half of the payload fairing remained intact after a successful

splashdown Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute in a body of water. It was used by crewed American space capsules prior to the Space Shuttle program, by SpaceX Dragon and Dragon 2 capsules and by NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew ...

achieved with thrusters and a steerable parachute. On 15 May 2017, the satellite became fully operational at 67° West.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2017 Communications satellites in geostationary orbit SES satellites Satellites using the Eurostar bus SpaceX commercial payloads Spacecraft launched in 2017 Satellites of Luxembourg 2017 in Luxembourg

Satellite description

History

See also

References