Spacebus

Spacebus

Infobox_Spacecraft
Name = Spacebus


Caption = Spacebus 4000C3 (AMC 12)
Organization = Thales Alenia Space
Major_Contractors =
Mission_Type = A platform for Communication satellite in geostationary orbit62 orders, 47 launched
Launch = Since 1985
Launch_Vehicle = All types of commercial launch vehicles
Mission_Duration = up to 15 years
Mass = from 1.1 ton to more than 5 tons
Power = up to 16 kW
Orbital_elements =

Spacebus is the name given to a family of geostationary telecommunications satellites developed starting in the 1980s by Aerospatiale, now Thales Alenia Space, in its Cannes Mandelieu Space Center.

They can be equipped with different payloads, but they are most often used as communications satellites. Their typical orbit around Earth is geostationary.

History

During that period, Aerospatiale was allied with the German company Messerschmitt (MBB) for the manufacture of satellites, among which was the Franco-German Symphonie program. After an in-house brainstorming within the two firms, it was Guy Lebègue, an engineer in the marketing department of Aerospatiale/Satellites, who invented the Spacebus name, with reference to the aeronautic program Airbus. The name is trademarked.

A franco-German Spacebus agreement was signed, on December 9, 1983 between Henri Martre, Aerospatiale's CEO and Hans Vogels, the MBB's President. The trademark was registered.

The Spacebus name becomes a product. Many dozens of them were built and sold on the export market, bringing a lot of curencies to the countries of the participating firms, increasing their Balance of trade as regard of the price of a Spacebus, close to the Airbus A 320 price.

A number follows the name representing the weight class of the satellites. 1000 for the metric ton, 2000, etc.

The name Spacebus was also given to satellites which were being manufactured while the trademark was being registered, although they have a different architecture (but "not the Symphonie satellites" which had already been launched several years before, and "are not therefore in the Spacebus family".

* Spacebus100for the first generation "Arabsat" satellites
* Spacebus 300 for the direct television satellites in the Franco-German program, and the Swedish Tele-X program.

Architecture

A satellite is generally composed of two sections: the payload, which is specific to the mission (telecommunications, Earth observation, navigation, science, etc.) and the platform (or service module) which provides the payload with all the necessary functions.

The idea was to develop a generic platform able to adapt itself to various future missions and to the evolutions in the capacity of launch vehicles in order to reduce manufacturing costs and if possible to create a series effect.

And in fact, more than sixty Spacebuses have been built, since the SB1000 Arabsat satellites in the one-ton class in 1981 up to the SB4000, weighing more than four tons, of the years 2000.

The architecture of the platform is based on:

* A modular design with separate U-shaped payload module, allowing parallel integration between Aerospatiale for the Service Module and a telecom equipment manufacturer for the Communication Payload, followed by the final mating, and test in the Cannes Space Center.
* A central tube in composite material made of a composite honeycomb and carbon fibre sandwich, acting as the satellite’s spinal column, interfacing with the launcher, housing two fuel tanks. Several panels are attached to it caring equipment for servicing. Also attached are three panels carrying the telecommunications payload equipment, two of which (in honeycomb sandwich with aluminium sides to let calories pass through) will act as thermal radiators allowing the heat generated by the payload to dissipate into the cold of space by radiation. At the beginning, these elements were produced in the Les Mureaux centre of Aerospatiale. After the separation of its satellite activity, the space centre in Cannes Mandelieu took over the manufacture of these elements in composite materials, and in particular, the production of the all the plane structures. The central tube, requiring very special tooling remained in Les Mureaux, which had become EADS. A second source is SAAB in Sweden.

* A thermal control system necessitating very sophisticated computation programs and technologies which were developed in Cannes: dissipating radiators, super insulation, electric heaters, heat pipes.
* Rigid solar cells arrays, with various combinations of panels depending on the electrical power requirements
* An electric architecture developed by ETCA in Belgium, with batteries of evolving technology from Nickel-Hydrogen to Lithium-Ion.
* Chemical propulsion based on bi-propellant technology developed by MBB in Germany. The electric propulsion was also studied, developed and introduced for two satellites: Stentor and Astra-1K, both of which were unfortunately lost during launch.
* A three-axis attitude and orbit control system developed initially by MBB.
* Various mechanisms for opening solar arrays and antennas developed and built in Cannes.

The Versions

The Spacebus evolution towards heavier satellites followed the capacity of launchers from Ariane 1 to Ariane 5. But it should be noted that Spacebuses have always been designed to adapt to all available launchers on the commercial market: not only the various versions of Ariane, but also Thor Delta, Atlas rocket, Soyuz, Proton, Long March and even exceptionally for launch by the Space Shuttle Discovery for one of the Arabsat satellites launched on the STS-51-G mission. These versions will be declined in the following charts. The tables show the “end of mission” meaning the end of operational use; after which, the satellite is often uncontrolled, perhaps slightly de-orbited (a manoeuvre strongly recommended by the satellite operator), and will drift for eternity, its “end of life” not signifying very much. Please also note that certain satellites have changed operators, either before launch or during their orbital life. They can even in this case change their orbital position.

pacebus 100

(Arabsat), with 2 KW of electrical power. Later on during the programme, the name "Spacebus 1000" may be used, to allow more easy comparison with the "Spacebus 2000" satellites.

;Launchers
* Two were launched by Ariane in its Ariane 3 and Ariane 4 versions
* Arabsat-1B was launched by the Space Shuttle, STS-51-G mission to which Patrick Baudry was participating. It needs an additional rocket motor to transfer the satellite between the Low Earth orbit of the Shuttle to the geosynchronous transfer orbit: PAM-D.

Spacebus 3000

In the advent of Ariane 5 launches the Spacebus 3000 appears with masses between 2 and 6 metric tons and electrical power supply of 5 to 16 KW. It is declined into several versions profiting from the ever larger payload fairings.

In 1991 the cooperation was further extended with the creation of "Satellite Alliance" which brought in three partners: Alcatel Espace, Alenia and Space Systems/Loral.

Spacebus 3000A

First version developed for the second generation for Arabsat. It was adopted by two new customers:
* for the Thaicom 5
* and the satellite Sinosat-1. The customer is EuraSpace, a common 50/50 subsidiary between DASA and China Aerospace Corporation (CASC).

;Launchers
* Always Ariane 4
* A first launch with Ariane 5: Thaïcom 5.
* A new launcher is used for Sinosat: the Chinese Long March Rocket.

Spacebus 3000B3S

. A single satellite in this class: Astra 1K. At the time it was this biggest commercial communications satellite ever built with an electric power supply of 13 kW. Unfortunately it was lost at launch due to a failure of the Proton rocket.

Spacebus 4000C1

For the C1, the height is 4 meters and the electrical power supply is 8.5 kW.

.

A new type of launcher is used: Zenit rocket on the mobile launch base on the equator, Sea Launch.

Spacebus 4000C4

With a height of 5.5 meters, this family can receive 16 kW of solar arrays.

.

;Launchers
* Two will be launched by Zenith from Sea Launch
* Ciel 2 will be launched by Proton managed by International Launch Services.

Express-4000

On December 6, 2007, Thales Alenia Space and the Russian company NPO PM, in Krasnoyarsk, signed [Thales Alenia Space and NPO-PM to finalize an industrial cooperation agreement, Cannes, December 6, 2007, [http://www.thalesonline.com/space/Press-Room/Press-Release-search-all/Press-Release-search-result/Press-Release-Article.html?link=6e0d1819-5c02-3426-4123-41507c545457:central&locale=EN-gb&Title=Thales+Alenia+Space+and+NPO-PM+to+finalize+an+industrial+cooperation+agreement&dis=1 www.thalesonline.com/space/Press-Room] ] an industrial agreement for the development of a powerful multimission platform, named Express-4000, based on the Spacebus 4000 architecture.

Express-4000 is a platform for direct injection (GSO) in geostationary orbit, compatible with the Proton rocket launcher, built, integrated in Krasnoïarsk and sale by NPO PM. On-board will be installed a telecommunications payload build by Thales Alenia Space.

Synthesis as September 9, 2008

* Ordered: 65
* Delivered: 54
* Under construction: 11
* Launched with success: 50
* Lost during launch: 4

;Launchers used
* "Ariane 4": 21
* "Ariane 5": 12
* "Atlas": 6
* "Ariane 1 à 3": 4
* "Proton": 4
* "Long March": 4
* "Delta": 1
* "Zenith": 1
* "Shuttle": 1

Records

* February 2, 1985: launch of Arabsat-1A, First Arab League communication satellite, a Spacebus 100
* October 28, 1988: launch of TDF-1, First European Direct broadcast satellite, a Spacebus 300
* October 28, 1998: launch of GE-5, First European communication satellite saled to United States, a Spacebus 2000.

* November 18, 2007 : launch of the 50th SpacebusChristian Lardier, « Ariane-5 : un tir de l'industrie européenne - le 50e Spacebus », dans "Air & Cosmos", N° 2100, du 16 novembre 2007] (the Star One C1 satellite , a Spacebus 3000B3) by Ariane 5 flight 179 in Kourou.
* December 21, 2007: launch of Rascom-QAF1, the First panafrican Communication satellite, a Spacebus 4000B3.

Footnotes and Sources

External links

* The SPACEBUS Family for Communication Satellites, Paper IAF-85-379, XXXVth International Astronautical Congress, Stockholm, Sweden, October 7–12,1985 - "D.E. Koelle, MBB, Ottobrunn, FRG - Jean-Jacques Dechezelles, Aerospatiale, Cannes, France", [http://www.guy-lebegue.fr/docs/sb.pdf own archives]
* [http://www.astronautix.com/com/craft Encyclopedia Astronautica] , particularly the permanent following of satellite orbital positions
* [http://space.skyrocket.de:index_frame.htm? Gunter’s Space Page] , an its exhaustive lists of platforms, satellites and chronologies for all launchers
* [http://www.sciencepresse.qc.ca/clafleur/Spacecrafts-index.html The Spacecraft Encyclopedia] and its chronological list of all satellites launched with detailed information
* [http://www.thalesaleniaspace.com/?locale=EN-gb The Thales Alenia Space website] Manufacturer documentation and press releases
* [http://www.spacemart.com/ Spacemart] , press releases
* [http://www.spacenewfeed.co.uk/ Space Newsfeed] , press releases


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