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DFS Kopernikus
(meaning
Deutscher Fernmeldesatellit Kopernikus
) was the name of three
geostationary satellites
of
Deutsche Bundespost
and later
Deutsche Telekom AG
. They are no longer in use.
DFS Kopernicus-3
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When DFS Kopernikus-3 was nearing the end of its life,
SES
sealed an agreement with Deutsche Telekom to use the 23.5° East position and frequencies, and in August 2001,
Astra 1D
was moved there.
[1]
The
Astra 23.5°E
position was officially opened in March 2002 with the launch and positioning of
Astra 3A
. Deutsche Telekom contracted for 10 transponders on that craft and shortly switched over all traffic from
DFS Kopernikus-3
.
[2]
Station keeping
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The orbital station-keeping manoeuvres of the satellites were conducted by the Flight Dynamics Group of the
German Aerospace Center
(DLR), German Space Operations Center, in
Oberpfaffenhofen
,
Bavaria
until April 1994. The flight dynamics operations (including re-location and proximity operations) for the DFS and TV-SAT satellites were taken over by the Deutesche Telekom Flight Dynamics Team at the Usingen Ground Station location. A twin Flight Dynamics System was located at the Deutsche Telekom offices in Darmstadt. The latter was used for advanced planning and emergency/backup purposes; it was operated by a dedicated team of specialists. The two Telekom Flight Dynamics Systems were connected and could be remotely operated if needed. The Flight Dynamics System used by Deutsche Telekom was designed and implemented by Telesat Canada. It used real-time Kalman Filters for orbit and attitude determination. The satellites were located at the following positions:
- DFS Kopernikus-1
: 23.5° East (1989-1994), later 33.5° East (1994-2002), replaced by
Astra 3A
[2]
- DFS Kopernikus-2
: 28.5° East (1994?2000?)
- DFS Kopernikus-3
: 23.5° East (1994?2003)
German satellite television market share in 1990
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- SES
: ca. 80%
- DFS Kopernikus: ca. 20%
- TV-SAT 2
: under 1%
See also
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References
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External links
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