Decommissioned communications satellite
Eutelsat I F-4
, also known as
European Communications Satellite-4
(
ECS-4
) is a decommissioned
communications satellite
operated by the
European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation
(Eutelsat). Launched in 1987, it was operated in
geostationary orbit
at a
longitude
of 10° East, before moving to several other locations later in its operational life, before it was finally decommissioned in 2002. It was the fourth of five satellites launched to form the first-generation Eutelsat constellation.
History
[
edit
]
The
European Telecommunications Satellite Organization
(Eutelsat) has been servicing the
European Economic Community
(CEE) since 1977, being formally established by a multi-lateral agreement in 1985. In 1979,
European Space Agency
(ESA) agreed to design, build, and launch five ECS (European Communications Satellite) spacecraft to be assumed by Eutelsat after on-orbit testing.
[4]
The Eutelsat I series of satellites was developed by the
European Space Agency
(ESA) as part of the European Communications Satellite (ECS) programme. Once launched and checked out in a geostationary orbit over
Europe
, each satellite was handed to Eutelsat for commercial operations. Four Eutelsat I satellites were successfully launched between 1983 and 1988 (1983, 1984, 1987, and 1988). They served both public and private traffic, including telephone services, fax, data, land mobile service, and television and radio programming. Each had a design life of 7 years and a bandwidth of 72
MHz
.
[5]
ECS-3 was lost in an
Ariane 3
launch accident in 1985.
Satellite description
[
edit
]
The ECS-4 spacecraft, had a mass at launch of 1,185 kg (2,612 lb).
[5]
Constructed by
British Aerospace
, it was designed to be operated for seven years and carried 12
Ku-band
transponders
, two of which were set aside as spares.
[4]
It also only had partial eclipse protection, requiring some channels to be turned off during eclipse periods around the spring and autumn equinoxes.
[1]
The satellite contained a
Mage-2
solid rocket motor
to perform orbit circularisation at
apogee
.
[4]
Launch
[
edit
]
ECS-4 was launched by
Arianespace
, using an
Ariane 3
launch vehicle
, flight number V19. The launch took place at 00:45:28
UTC
on 16 September 1987, from
ELA-1
at
Centre Spatial Guyanais
, at
Kourou
,
French Guiana
.
[2]
Successfully deployed into
geostationary transfer orbit
(GTO), ECS-4 raised itself into an operational geostationary orbit using its
apogee motor
.
Mission
[
edit
]
Following commissioning operations conducted by the
European Space Agency
(ESA), the Eutelsat I F-4 satellite was moved to its operational orbital position at 10° East, entering service in November 1987. The satellite was decommissioned in November 2002.
[6]
It is in a
graveyard orbit
.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Eutelsat I F4"
.
The Satellite Encyclopedia
. Tag Broadcasting Services. 28 February 2021
. Retrieved
20 April
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"Launch Log"
. Jonathan's Space Report. 14 March 2021
. Retrieved
20 April
2021
.
- ^
"EUTELSAT 1-F4 (ECS 4)"
. N2YO.com
. Retrieved
20 April
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
Krebs, Gunter (21 July 2019).
"ECS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Eutelsat-1 F1, 2, 4, 5)"
. Gunter's Space Page
. Retrieved
20 April
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"Display: EUTELSAT 4 1987-078B"
. NASA. 13 April 2021
. Retrieved
20 April
2021
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
McDowell, Jonathan.
"Geostationary Orbit Catalog"
. Jonathan's Space Report. Archived from
the original
on 9 September 2016
. Retrieved
8 June
2014
.
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in
underline
. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in
italics
. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
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