Orbiter pic-essay Part II: Ariane 5 EC-B (56k Alert)
Posted: 2005-02-17 12:16pm
To commorate the recent successful launch of the Ariane 5 EC-A, here's another pic-essay, only the launcher here is the future Ariane 5 EC-B, which is basically the same as the EC-A, but with a stretched upper stage for greater fuel capacity, which will allow it to carry 20% more weight to a geostationary transfer orbit.
The cargo for this mission is a (also unbuilt in RL) Carina orbital payload capsule mounted on a Russian-designed Fregat orital thrust module (the Fregat is currently used on the Russian R-7 launchers that also make use of the ESA's Kourou spaceport where the Ariane 5s launch, but as yet hasn't been used on Ariane) mounted on an adaptor cradle: the Fregat-Carina assembly will be released on a test flight in low earth orbit (LEO). The other piece of cargo is a meteorlogical satellite destined for a geostationary orbit. The two payloads can be carried simultaniously through the use of a Sylda 1500 internal payload structure.
1) The Ariane 5 launcher on the pad at the ESA's spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana: Kourou is situated very near the equator, making it a perfect site to launch payloads into a geostationary orbit.
2)Liftoff!
3)T + 100 seconds, altitude 30,000m
4)T + 123 seconds: the spent Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) have jettisoned: The SRBs provided most of the thrust up to this point. The Core stage will continue it's burn until it is exhausted.
5)Fairing jettison...
6)A better view of the passenger Carina/Fregat assembly, as well as the Sylda payload structure it sits on: the meteorological sat is inside the Sylda.
7)Core stage jettison & upper stage ignition.
The upper stage, laden with 9 tonnes of deadweight, must burn nearly half it's fuel to achieve a proper orbit.
9)Upper stage shutdown, altitude 310km: The orbit is only slighly inclined off the equator.
10)The Fregat/Carina combo (which together weigh 7 tonnes) is released.
11)The Fregat begins a long burn, which will put it in higher-inclination orbit at the same altitude.
12)Fregat shutdown...
13)Now, back to the Ariane upper stage: The Sylda structure has jettisoned, revealing the meteorlogical sat. The Geostationary transfer burn will begin as soon as as the upper stage reaches the Ascending Node of it's orbit...
14)The upper stage begins a burn to put it into a geostationary transfer orbit.
15)The upper stage is now in it's GTO coast phase, which lasts about 6 hours.
16)Now at the apogee of it's GTO, the third stage ignites again to adjust it's GTO into a circular geostationary orbit over the Americas.
17)With the burn complete, the satellite is released: it's geostationary orbit will perpetually keep it directly over the same point on the earth's surface.
18)Since the satellite's mass was well below the upper stage's GEO payload limit, it has enough fuel left to de-orbit itself, so it initiates a final burn to do so: If it didn't have enough fuel, it'd simply adjust it's orbit to minimize the chance of contact with another satellite.
19)The upper stage is only 1,200km from the Earth's surface, and is now free-falling at nearly 36,000 km/h: it will re-enter the atmosphere over the central Pacific.
20)Re-entry and burnup: total flight time was just over 13 hours.
The cargo for this mission is a (also unbuilt in RL) Carina orbital payload capsule mounted on a Russian-designed Fregat orital thrust module (the Fregat is currently used on the Russian R-7 launchers that also make use of the ESA's Kourou spaceport where the Ariane 5s launch, but as yet hasn't been used on Ariane) mounted on an adaptor cradle: the Fregat-Carina assembly will be released on a test flight in low earth orbit (LEO). The other piece of cargo is a meteorlogical satellite destined for a geostationary orbit. The two payloads can be carried simultaniously through the use of a Sylda 1500 internal payload structure.
1) The Ariane 5 launcher on the pad at the ESA's spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana: Kourou is situated very near the equator, making it a perfect site to launch payloads into a geostationary orbit.
2)Liftoff!
3)T + 100 seconds, altitude 30,000m
4)T + 123 seconds: the spent Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) have jettisoned: The SRBs provided most of the thrust up to this point. The Core stage will continue it's burn until it is exhausted.
5)Fairing jettison...
6)A better view of the passenger Carina/Fregat assembly, as well as the Sylda payload structure it sits on: the meteorological sat is inside the Sylda.
7)Core stage jettison & upper stage ignition.
The upper stage, laden with 9 tonnes of deadweight, must burn nearly half it's fuel to achieve a proper orbit.9)Upper stage shutdown, altitude 310km: The orbit is only slighly inclined off the equator.
10)The Fregat/Carina combo (which together weigh 7 tonnes) is released.
11)The Fregat begins a long burn, which will put it in higher-inclination orbit at the same altitude.
12)Fregat shutdown...
13)Now, back to the Ariane upper stage: The Sylda structure has jettisoned, revealing the meteorlogical sat. The Geostationary transfer burn will begin as soon as as the upper stage reaches the Ascending Node of it's orbit...
14)The upper stage begins a burn to put it into a geostationary transfer orbit.
15)The upper stage is now in it's GTO coast phase, which lasts about 6 hours.
16)Now at the apogee of it's GTO, the third stage ignites again to adjust it's GTO into a circular geostationary orbit over the Americas.
17)With the burn complete, the satellite is released: it's geostationary orbit will perpetually keep it directly over the same point on the earth's surface.
18)Since the satellite's mass was well below the upper stage's GEO payload limit, it has enough fuel left to de-orbit itself, so it initiates a final burn to do so: If it didn't have enough fuel, it'd simply adjust it's orbit to minimize the chance of contact with another satellite.
19)The upper stage is only 1,200km from the Earth's surface, and is now free-falling at nearly 36,000 km/h: it will re-enter the atmosphere over the central Pacific.
20)Re-entry and burnup: total flight time was just over 13 hours.