Echostar 16 Launch - November 20 2012
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Burns 3 and 4 done successively. We are almost out of the woods. Again, should find out close to 11PM if all went well with the launch. Then SSL gets to be nervous as they power up the bird.
http://www.ilslaunch.com/mission-control/echostar-xvi/blog/echostar-xvi-third-burn-and-fourth-burn
http://www.ilslaunch.com/mission-control/echostar-xvi/blog/echostar-xvi-third-burn-and-fourth-burn
http://www.ilslaunch.com/mission-control/mission-echostar-xvi
Just one burn left it is coasting for a few hours now.
Just one burn left it is coasting for a few hours now.
It should, but I think Dish's bigger priority should be adding HD Locals in the approximately 40 markets that still don't have them yet through Dish.
November 20, 2012 10:46 pm (GMT)
ILS Communications Team
We have had a successful mission with the ILS Proton Rocket, carrying the EchoStar XVI satellite built by Space Systems/Loral for EchoStar. We have had confirmation that the satellite separated from the vehicle on schedule at 10:43pm EST, or 03:43 GMT, 9 hours and 12 minute after liftoff.
Everything occurred as planned with ignition, shutdown and separation of the Proton’s first three stages. Then the Breeze M upper stage with the satellite continued the mission, igniting five times, and then releasing the satellite into transfer orbit
ILS Communications Team
We have had a successful mission with the ILS Proton Rocket, carrying the EchoStar XVI satellite built by Space Systems/Loral for EchoStar. We have had confirmation that the satellite separated from the vehicle on schedule at 10:43pm EST, or 03:43 GMT, 9 hours and 12 minute after liftoff.
Everything occurred as planned with ignition, shutdown and separation of the Proton’s first three stages. Then the Breeze M upper stage with the satellite continued the mission, igniting five times, and then releasing the satellite into transfer orbit
Phew... I kept having AMC 14 flashbacks.
Glad to see its going well!
Well, at least the DoD got to use it
The main reason they are launched in Russia is that these satellites are huge. Essentially they need the technology that is capable of heavy lift that was developed by governments. Russia is essentially reusing their ICBM (proton rocket originally designed for a 100 megaton nuke) technology. Rocket technology of course is a tightly guarded secret. Private companies in the US are developing heavy lift rockets now, but currently for these huge satellites they have to go with the proton rocket.
I believe it's around 3 months of testing before it reaches its final destination but I could be wrong.
There are really very few companies in the commercial GTO launch business, and the market has changed greatly in the last decade.
International Launch Services (ILS) intially formed with Lockheed and several Russian and Ukranian companies to sell the Atlas V and Proton. However, Lockheed quickly sold it's stake to another company, and took its Atlas V with it. ILS is popular as they can do a lot of launches in short order and are reasonably priced. They have had several hell known failues, but the fact is all systems have them. You just hear more about the Proton ones because they do so many commercial launches, including DirecTV and Dish, and have such a huge chunk of the commercial market share.
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed and market the Atlas V, Delta II, and Delta IV. This is where Lockheed went after pulling out of ILS. They mainly do government jobs, including weather satellites, science missions, and spy satellites They government likes them as they don't want to send their top secret stuff out to the US. As such, they command a premium most commercial launchers don't care to pay. Nonetheless, they have done few commercial launches.
Arianespace markets the European Space Agency's Ariane-5. It has costs comparable the ULA, but has the advantage of being able to launch 2 medium sized sats at a time, meaning each customer can pay half. However, the latest Dish and DirecTV sats have been a little too big to split the cost.
Sealaunch was out there, but went bankrupt, and have only had 3 launches since mid 2009. They lose a somewhat weaker rocket (a Ukrainian Zenit), but partially made up for it by launching from the equator. But with so few launches, not a lot of space to get on their schedule as they try to get back on their feet.
Several other governments have launchers, but I don't know if too many do commercial launches. Charlie's first sat was sent up by the Chinese, but it caused controversy over sending US technology over there. But essentially, there are only 4 options in the game.
Here is the history of Dish launches
Echostar 1: Chinese Long March 2E, 12/28/1995
Echostar 2: Ariane 4, 9/10/1996
Echostar 3: Atlas 2, 10/5/1997
Echostar 4: Proton-K, 5/7/1998 (Note: satellite failed)
Echostar 5: Atlas 2, 9/29/1999
Echostar 6: Atlas 2, 7/14/2000
Echostar 7: Atlas 3, 2/21/2002
Echostar 8: Proton-K, 8/22/2002
Echostar 12: Atlas 5, 7/17/2003 (Note: originally launched for Voom as Rainbow 1)
Echostar 9: Zenit 3, 8/8/2003
Echostar 10: Zenit 3, 2/15/2006
Anik F3: Proton M, 4/9/2007
AMC-14: Proton M, 3/14/2008 (Note: failed launch)
Echostar 11: Zenit 3, 7/16/2008
Ciel-2: Proton M, 12/10/2008
Nimiq-5: Proton M, 9/17/2009
Echostar 14: Proton M, 3/20/2010
Echostar 15: Proton M, 7/10/2010
Quetzsat-1: Proton M, 9/29/2011
Echostar 17: Ariane 5, 7/5/2012 (Note: built for Hughesnet HSI as Jupiter 1)
Echostar 16: Proton M, 11/20/2012
So, it is only recently Dish has been on the Proton kick. They have long used several launchers, and made ample use of SeaLaunch when they were around. But there have been several changes since. Satellites built before Echostar 11 were in the 3000-5000kg range. After, they are in the 5000-6500kg range. That has somewhat trimmed the options. That has excluded lighter ULA options and easily pairing with an Arianespace option. With Sea Launch so limited and on the cusp of their capabilities anyway, ILS Protons are simply the best option for Dish of late.
By my count, there have been
Proton: 10
Atlas: 5
Sea Launch: 3
Arianespace: 2
China: 1
International Launch Services (ILS) intially formed with Lockheed and several Russian and Ukranian companies to sell the Atlas V and Proton. However, Lockheed quickly sold it's stake to another company, and took its Atlas V with it. ILS is popular as they can do a lot of launches in short order and are reasonably priced. They have had several hell known failues, but the fact is all systems have them. You just hear more about the Proton ones because they do so many commercial launches, including DirecTV and Dish, and have such a huge chunk of the commercial market share.
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed and market the Atlas V, Delta II, and Delta IV. This is where Lockheed went after pulling out of ILS. They mainly do government jobs, including weather satellites, science missions, and spy satellites They government likes them as they don't want to send their top secret stuff out to the US. As such, they command a premium most commercial launchers don't care to pay. Nonetheless, they have done few commercial launches.
Arianespace markets the European Space Agency's Ariane-5. It has costs comparable the ULA, but has the advantage of being able to launch 2 medium sized sats at a time, meaning each customer can pay half. However, the latest Dish and DirecTV sats have been a little too big to split the cost.
Sealaunch was out there, but went bankrupt, and have only had 3 launches since mid 2009. They lose a somewhat weaker rocket (a Ukrainian Zenit), but partially made up for it by launching from the equator. But with so few launches, not a lot of space to get on their schedule as they try to get back on their feet.
Several other governments have launchers, but I don't know if too many do commercial launches. Charlie's first sat was sent up by the Chinese, but it caused controversy over sending US technology over there. But essentially, there are only 4 options in the game.
Here is the history of Dish launches
Echostar 1: Chinese Long March 2E, 12/28/1995
Echostar 2: Ariane 4, 9/10/1996
Echostar 3: Atlas 2, 10/5/1997
Echostar 4: Proton-K, 5/7/1998 (Note: satellite failed)
Echostar 5: Atlas 2, 9/29/1999
Echostar 6: Atlas 2, 7/14/2000
Echostar 7: Atlas 3, 2/21/2002
Echostar 8: Proton-K, 8/22/2002
Echostar 12: Atlas 5, 7/17/2003 (Note: originally launched for Voom as Rainbow 1)
Echostar 9: Zenit 3, 8/8/2003
Echostar 10: Zenit 3, 2/15/2006
Anik F3: Proton M, 4/9/2007
AMC-14: Proton M, 3/14/2008 (Note: failed launch)
Echostar 11: Zenit 3, 7/16/2008
Ciel-2: Proton M, 12/10/2008
Nimiq-5: Proton M, 9/17/2009
Echostar 14: Proton M, 3/20/2010
Echostar 15: Proton M, 7/10/2010
Quetzsat-1: Proton M, 9/29/2011
Echostar 17: Ariane 5, 7/5/2012 (Note: built for Hughesnet HSI as Jupiter 1)
Echostar 16: Proton M, 11/20/2012
So, it is only recently Dish has been on the Proton kick. They have long used several launchers, and made ample use of SeaLaunch when they were around. But there have been several changes since. Satellites built before Echostar 11 were in the 3000-5000kg range. After, they are in the 5000-6500kg range. That has somewhat trimmed the options. That has excluded lighter ULA options and easily pairing with an Arianespace option. With Sea Launch so limited and on the cusp of their capabilities anyway, ILS Protons are simply the best option for Dish of late.
By my count, there have been
Proton: 10
Atlas: 5
Sea Launch: 3
Arianespace: 2
China: 1
Teehar said:
Figure 10 days to 67w. Then 4-6 weeks testing , then 2 weeks to move to 61.5w as a guess
That's too long. I'll talk to Charlie today to make it by Dec 24. My dish is getting bored getting 80's and nothing.
I'm sure this was already asked and answered in the past 40 pages… but maybe it should be sticky of what will this bird do for us?
so in short for EA folks will this new sat give a better signal in rain? Provide more local HD?, and or more national HD? I'd be fine with just a better signal BUT….
so in short for EA folks will this new sat give a better signal in rain? Provide more local HD?, and or more national HD? I'd be fine with just a better signal BUT….
johnner1999 said:
Probably not much difference in signal strength. No difference in Conus.
Capability to serve many more spot markets. But, the uplink ground infrastructure and station contracts set what goes up.
It can now be tracked online.
Orbit (as of yesterday) 35777x23309km, inclination 3.48 degrees, and should probably be in its testing location in the next day or three.
1 39008U 12065A 12330.56468331 -.00000128 00000-0 00000+0 0 148
2 39008 003.4817 345.2609 1735454 001.7859 114.5237 01.27515897 157
http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=39008
It is not on this site (which will calculate longitude) yet, but when it is, it will be at this URL:
http://www.n2yo.com/?s=39008
Orbit (as of yesterday) 35777x23309km, inclination 3.48 degrees, and should probably be in its testing location in the next day or three.
1 39008U 12065A 12330.56468331 -.00000128 00000-0 00000+0 0 148
2 39008 003.4817 345.2609 1735454 001.7859 114.5237 01.27515897 157
http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=39008
It is not on this site (which will calculate longitude) yet, but when it is, it will be at this URL:
http://www.n2yo.com/?s=39008
