Ariane V155 launch - Atlantic Bird 1

Eutelsat 12.5W logo

 

This page came about because I found a couple of nice pictures in my archives of the launch of this satellite. Atlantic Bird 1 is also known as Cesasat as it was built by the Czech company Cesa (now Satel Com) and was originally to be known in orbit as Marconi. It was planned to launch it on a Chinese Long March rocket, but the necessary USA export licences could not be obtained....

This first pic is an incredible pic of V155 sitting on the launch pad at Kourou in French Guiana. The strap on boosters are shown to good effect on this pic.

The Ariane 5 from the bottom of the launch pad

 

28th August 2002, 2245 UTC and V155 roars off the launch pad carrying Atlantic Bird 1 destined for 12.5W, and Meteosat 8 (MSG 1) - a weather satellite operating at 10.5W.

Ariane V155 lift off

 

Both satellites have experienced problems in service. By December 2003, Atlantic Bird 1 was rumoured to have suffered numerous hours out of service.

MSG 1 suffered a power amplifier failure in October 2002. The meteorology was not affected, just the rebroadcastof the data after it has been processed by the ground station. In an innovative work around, MSG 1 now sends its data to the ground station, and the data is sent back up to Hotbird 6 at 13E.

Heres the ESA description of the first phase of the mission:

MSG-1 weather satellite ready for commissioning

27 September 2002
ESA PR 61-2002. The first of Eumetsat's new generation of weather satellites, MSG-1, has arrived on station at 10.5°W in geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres above the Earth. After separation from the Ariane-5 launcher on 29 August, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt took the spacecraft under control on behalf of Eumetsat for the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP). Operation of the spacecraft has now been handed over to Eumetsat.
 
MSG has been developed through the close cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

The combination of ESA’s space technology development skills and Eumetsat’s meteorological expertise and long-term operational perspective has resulted in this new satellite system set to provide an essential service for at least the next 12 years.

After careful preparations, the LEOP entailed a series of precisely controlled firings of the Liquid Apogee boost Motors (LAMs) on board the spacecraft to successively increase satellite’s velocity to 3 kilometres per second and raise its altitude to 36,000 kilometres above the Earth. Following these manoeuvres it was correctly aligned and its spin rate stabilised at 100 revolutions per minute. José Achache, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programme, stated: “From the development of the satellite to the careful positioning of the satellite to its orbit, ESA and Eumetsat have worked hand in hand to provide European citizens and beyond with a reliable weather forecasting tool.”

MSG-1 will now remain in orbit in at 10.5°W and the onboard instruments will be activated. A lengthy commissioning period will follow during which all aspects of the systems both on-board the spacecraft and on the ground will be thoroughly tested. The first image from MSG-1 is foreseen towards the end of October and dissemination of imagery to the user communities by the end of the year for evaluation purposes.

 

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