DirecTV 4s

[nelson61]

The deorbit continues.

First they lowered it and started drifting it east, then a series of burns began to slowly raise it.
Presently, it's at ~ 55W and -50 km below geostationary and drifting east.
When it crosses the geostationary altitude, it will then drift west.

 

[HoTat2]

The deorbit continues.

First they lowered it and started drifting it east, then a series of burns began to slowly raise it.
Presently, it's at ~ 55W and -50 km below geostationary and drifting east.
When it crosses the geostationary altitude, it will then drift west.

Yeah ...

DIRECTV appears to be doing as slice stated in post #38 ...

Drifting T4S about to the 40° W.L. eastern limit for one of their 11.3m DBS uplink stations at the CRBC before injection into a graveyard orbit somewhere above the Clarke belt.

So they can then track and possibly send commands to it in the disposal orbit as it now drifts west up to 170° W.L. by a 13.2m DBS uplink station at the Bakersfield, CA. site (LADF).

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[nelson61]

Another increase in altitude
-20 km below geo orbit

Looks like it will move above geo around ~ 55w

 

[nelson61]

This morning
75 KM above geo orbit and now moving west.
It has successfully deorbited and will likely increase altitude another 100-150 km before completion - depending on fuel reserves

 

[nelson61]

207 km above geo orbit and within the desired deorbit altitude range

 

[nelson61]

Some where around 96W they bumped it up to 239 KM above geostationary.
Then in the last day or so - around 101 W - they bumped it up to 263 KM above geostationary and into a circular orbit +/- 8 KM.

So, yes indeed, they first moved it east before starting the deorbit/reorbit process , giving them lots of time to make orbital
adjustments from their ground stations

ITU standard is 300 KM but the older satellites frequently don't make it that high.
Looks like AT&T did a good job of fuel management

 

[nelson61]

This type of support satellite could have extended the life of 4s.
Filed for launch in second quarter 2020 with mission to extend life of GEO satellites.

Space Logistics : https://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/download.do?attachment_key=2098821

 

[slice1900]

They didn't have any need to extend its life though.

 

[nelson61]

They didn't have any need to extend its life though.

But it illustrates what is coming in 2020. Strap on energy packs with navigation capabilities.

Sent from S10 Plus
using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[slice1900]

What I wonder about those is if it is one 'booster' per launch or if they could launch more than one at once? How much money would a satellite owner really save extending the life of an existing satellite 5-10 years, when a new satellite would last longer and be capable of a lot more.

Just look at the evolution since D4S - which could only handle even numbered Ku transponders and some spot beams. D9S was the same, with D8 handling the even transponders. More recently they launched T15/T16, which could handle all 32 Ku transponders both even and odd, or handle both Ka (up to 24 in T15, up to 27 in T16) in addition to 18 RDBS. The transponders are also capable of higher power (getting all the way to the FCC limits)

I assume a lot of the improvement is due to better solar panels and batteries that provide more power to operate more transponders at once.

 

[Inclined Orbit]

I suspect someone else is flying it since ATT laid off most if not all the staff that had the expertise to do this.

Looks like AT&T did a good job of fuel management

 

[HoTat2]

I suspect someone else is flying it since ATT laid off most if not all the staff that had the expertise to do this.

I always thought that while DIRECTV provides most if not all the transmission facilities for satellite TT&C to their fleet of birds through their own network of uplink stations. They would always subcontract out to others like Intelsat to handle the actual day to day operations and management for this. ....

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

 

[HoTat2]

In fact, just for the heck of it ...

I once tried to e-mail a technical question about a feature that is not clearly explained in the FCC filed documents to Intelsat's network operations about satellites IS-30 and 31 that carry the Ku-band payloads DLA-1 and 2 for DIRECTV LA service.

Needless to say I never received a response to it ... Lol. ....

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

 

[Inclined Orbit]

I always thought that while DIRECTV provides most if not all the transmission facilities for satellite TT&C to their fleet of birds through their own network of uplink stations. They would always subcontract out to others like Intelsat to handle the actual day to day operations and management for this. ....

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapat

I always thought that while DIRECTV provides most if not all the transmission facilities for satellite TT&C to their fleet of birds through their own network of uplink stations. They would always subcontract out to others like Intelsat to handle the actual day to day operations and management for this. ....

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

Before ATT stuck their pee pee in DirecTV it was a combination of Intelsat and DirecTV employees that provided TT&C. I believe the Spaceway sats were under DTV control and most if not all the others were Intelsat, but my memory is foggy. I've installed and worked on some of the TT&C equipment including the somewhat restricted Cortex modems that send encrypted comms to the spacecraft.

What was the feature you were questioning on DLA-1 and DLA-2?

 

[HoTat2]

...

What was the feature you were questioning on DLA-1 and DLA-2?

Oh ...

It was for an explanation of the actual connectivity of the 24 "Regional" transponders assigned to each pair of broadcast centers in So. America to the respective two regional downlink beams they transmit on.

According to the FCC docs., the 24 Reg. tps. fed by the Colombia and Venezuela broadcast centers downlink on two overlapping regional beams arbitrarily labeled as beams "1" and "2" aimed at the northern part of the continent (and part of the southern Caribbean).

And the 24 Reg. tps. fed by the Argentina and Brazil centers downlink on overlapping beams labeled "3" and "4" aimed at the southern portion of the continent.

But are each of the 24 Reg. tps. for each broadcast center pair permanently fixed to one or the other downlink beam. Or are they switchable between one or the other beam was the question I had?



Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

 

[Inclined Orbit]

Oh ...

It was for an explanation of the actual connectivity of the 24 "Regional" transponders assigned to each pair of broadcast centers in So. America to the respective two regional downlink beams they transmit on.

According to the FCC docs., the 24 Reg. tps. fed by the Colombia and Venezuela broadcast centers downlink on two overlapping regional beams arbitrarily labeled as beams "1" and "2" aimed at the northern part of the continent (and part of the southern Caribbean).

And the 24 Reg. tps. fed by the Argentina and Brazil centers downlink on overlapping beams labeled "3" and "4" aimed at the southern portion of the continent.

But are each of the 24 Reg. tps. for each broadcast center pair permanently fixed to one or the other downlink beam. Or are they switchable between one or the other beam was the question I had?



Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

I don't know the answer to that at the moment but I do have some original DLA-1 transponder mapping info buried somewhere around here. I can probably have an answer next week and post it provided its not proprietary.