Brasilsat-A2

Last updated
Brasilsat-A2 /SBTS 2
Mission type Telecommunications
Operator Embratel (1986-2000)
Star One (2000-2004)
COSPAR ID 1986-026B
SATCAT no. 16650
Mission duration18 years
Spacecraft properties
Bus HS-376
Manufacturer Spar Aerospace  / Hughes
Launch mass1,194.8 kilograms (2,634 lb)
Start of mission
Launch dateMarch 28, 1986 (1986-03-28) at 23:30 UTC
Rocket Ariane 3
Launch site Kourou ELA-2
Contractor Arianespace
End of mission
DeactivatedFebruary 2004 (2004-03)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Geostationary
Longitude(first position): 70° W
(current position): 153.6° W
Semi-major axis 42,342.0 kilometres (26,310.1 mi)
Perigee 35,947.7 kilometres (22,336.9 mi)
Apogee 35,995.7 kilometres (22,366.7 mi)
Inclination 14.8 degrees
Period 1,445.2 minutes [1]
Epoch 20 April 2017
Transponders
Band24 IEEE C-band
Coverage area Brazil, South America
 

Brasilsat A2 was a Brazilian geostationary communication satellite belonging to the Brasilsat family. It was built by Spar Aerospace in partnership with Hughes. For most of its useful life it was located in the orbital position of 70 degrees west longitude and was operated by Star One, a subsidiary company of Embratel. The satellite was based on the platform HS-376 and its life expectancy was 8 years. [2] The same was out of commission in February 2004 and was transferred to the graveyard orbit. [3]

Brazil Federal republic in South America

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populated city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states, the Federal District, and the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas; it is also one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world.

Communication is the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs, symbols, and semiotic rules.

SPAR Aerospace was a Canadian aerospace company. It produced equipment for the Canadian Space Agency to be used in cooperation with NASA's Space Shuttle program, most notably the Canadarm, a remote manipulator system.

Contents

Model

The satellite had the shape of a cylinder, where on its top was a directional antenna that opened after the launching of the satellite, had the rotation stabilized of 50 to 55 rpm, its movers used like propellant 136 kilograms of hydrazine and was fed by solar cells that supplied 982 watts at the beginning of its operation phase, using two NiCd batteries as power reserves. It carried 24 C-band transmitters with 6 spare transmitters. They provided an Effective Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP) effective incident radiation power> 34 dBW for most of the Brazilian territory.

Revolutions per minute is the number of turns in one minute. It is a unit of rotational speed or the frequency of rotation around a fixed axis.

Hydrazine A colorless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour

Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula N
2H
4. It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colorless and flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour.

Solar cell electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect

A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon. It is a form of photoelectric cell, defined as a device whose electrical characteristics, such as current, voltage, or resistance, vary when exposed to light. Individual solar cell devices can be combined to form modules, otherwise known as solar panels. In basic terms a single junction silicon solar cell can produce a maximum open-circuit voltage of approximately 0.5 to 0.6 volts.

History

In the 1980s, Brazil needed its own satellites to exempt foreigners. As a result of this effort, the Brazilian company Embratel contracted in August 1982 the Canadian Spar Aerospace, Ltd., in partnership with American Hughes, to build its series of "Brasilsat A" satellites, the series consisted of two satellites, the Brasilsat-A1 and the Brasilsat-A2. Built by Spar Aerospace, which received US$ 125 million to build under license from Hughes, the two Brazilian satellites model HS-376.

Embratel

Embratel is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The company was the long distance arm of Telebras until it was bought by the U.S. company MCI Communications for 2.65 billion reais during the 1998 break-up of Telebras. However, MCI Communications went bankrupt in 2003. Since 2003, it is owned by América Móvil, the Mexican telecommunications giant.

Canada Country in North America

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, with 70% of citizens residing within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

The satellites initially received the name of Brasilsat 1 and 2 and formed the beginning of the Brazilian Telecommunications Satellite System - SBTS. Subsequently, with the launch of the second generation of satellites, they were renamed Brasilsat-A1 and A2, and were replaced by the satellites Brasilsat B1 and Brasilsat B2.

Brasilsat B1 is a Brazilian communications satellite launched on August 10, 1994, by an Ariane rocket model 44L at Guiana Space Centre which is located in Kourou, French Guiana.

Brasilsat B2 is a Brazilian communications satellite launched on March 28, 1995, by an Ariane rocket model 44L at Kourou in French Guiana.

The Brasilsat A2 satellite was the second Brazilian satellite owned by the former state-owned Embratel, which was privatized on March 28, 1986, by a 2/3 Ariane rocket at Kourou's launch base in French Guiana. This satellite was equal to Brasilsat A1. It had a mass at the launch of 1,243 kg, Perigee of 35,778 km, Apogee of 35,794 km and a slope of 0.0 degrees. During its commercial life, it was parked at 70 degrees west.

French Guiana Overseas region and department of France in South America

French Guiana is an overseas department and region of France, on the north Atlantic coast of South America in the Guyanas. It borders Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. Since 1981, when Belize became independent from the United Kingdom, French Guiana has been the only territory of the mainland Americas that is still part of a European country.

Its contractual life span was 8 years, but the satellite continued to be controlled until the end of 2004, with almost 18 years of life. Brasilsat A2 was operated directly by Embratel until the end of 2000, when Star One was created a subsidiary of Embratel, which was used to manage Embratel's former fleet of satellites. After the satellite was launched in March 1986, it was placed in the orbital position of 70 degrees west longitude. In 1994 it was transferred to 65 degrees west, where it remained until the month of June 1995, it was moved in August 1995 to 92 degrees west, where it remained until January 2001, it was transferred in March 2001 to 63 degrees west in sloping orbit, the Brasilsat-A2 remained in this position until February 2004 when it left service and was sent to the graveyard orbit.

Star One is a Brazilian communication satellite company. It is a subsidiary of Embratel.

Longitude A geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earths surface

Longitude, is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the Earth's surface, or the surface of a celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter lambda (λ). Meridians connect points with the same longitude. By convention, one of these, the Prime Meridian, which passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England, was allocated the position of 0° longitude. The longitude of other places is measured as the angle east or west from the Prime Meridian, ranging from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and −180° westward. Specifically, it is the angle between a plane through the Prime Meridian and a plane through both poles and the location in question.

Graveyard orbit supersynchronous orbit where spacecraft are intentionally placed at the end of their operational life

A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well above geosynchronous orbit. Satellites are typically moved into such orbits at the end of their operational life to reduce the probability of colliding with operational spacecraft and generating space debris.

Its replacement in the orbital position of 70 degrees west to continue with the telecommunications transmissions, was the satellite Brasilsat B1, that was released in 1994.

Release

The satellite was successfully launched into space on March 28, 1986, at 23:30 UTC, by means of an Ariane 3 vehicle launched from the Space launching base of the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana along with the Satellite GStar 2. It had a launch mass of 1,140 kg.

Capacity and coverage

The Brasilsat-A2 was equipped with 24 transponders in C-band (plus 6 reserve) to provide telecommunications services to Brazil and South America.

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References

  1. ↑ BRAZILSAT B2. N2yo.com. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  2. ↑ Krebs, Gunter. Brasilsat A 1, 2. Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  3. ↑ Brasilsat A2. TSE. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
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