Optus 10 - launch successful

[Xplorer]

September 11, 2014 – Ariane Flight VA218

Optus 10 satellite launched

Arianespace’s Ariane 5 launcher logged another heavy-lift mission achievement, orbiting commercial telecommunications payloads today for leading Asia-Pacific operators MEASAT and Optus on Flight VA218.

Lifting off from the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch zone in French Guiana, Ariane 5 successfully deployed MEASAT-3b and Optus 10 into geostationary transfer orbit – marking its 61st consecutive successful mission.
Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël noted that a total of 100 communications satellites have been delivered to geostationary transfer orbits by Ariane 5 during this unbroken string of successes.

“I am particularly happy that this event came on the occasion of a launch for the Asia-Pacific region: a part of the world where Arianespace has been very successful, as demonstrated by a market share constantly above 60 percent,” he said in comments from the Spaceport’s mission control center.
“With tonight’s launch, 70 payloads have been orbited by Arianespace for customers from Asia-Pacific region and this trend will continue as our order book currently includes 10 more satellites to be launched for customers in the region.”



Ascending from French Guiana, Ariane 5 lights up the Spaceport during its successful Flight VA218.


MEASAT-3b is the third spacecraft Arianespace has lofted for this Malaysia-based operator, and will expand MEASAT’s telecommunications and direct-to-home broadcast services in Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Australia. Built by Airbus Defence and Space, MEASAT-3b has a design life of 15 years and will operate from an orbital position of 91.5 deg. East.

Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Communication and Multimedia, Y.B. Dato’ Jailani Johari, called Flight VA218’s orbiting of MEASAT-3b a significant and historic event that represents “another milestone in the development of Malaysia’s satellite system, which will benefit both Malaysia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.”

Flight VA218’s Optus 10 passenger was the sixth Arianespace has lofted for Australian operator Optus, which will utilize this satellite to provide direct TV broadcast, Internet, telephone and data transmission services for Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic region. Optus 10 was produced by SSL (Space Systems/Loral) with a design life of 15 years and will be positioned at 164 deg. East in orbit.

Paul Sheridan, the Vice President of Optus Satellite, offered a special recognition of Arianespace for its continued support during the two companies’ long-term relationship. “This is our sixth launch with the Ariane team, and it is worth noting that it’s been almost 30 years since the partnership commenced,” he added.

Ariane 5’s total payload performance for Flight VA218 was approximately 10,090 kg. – including its MEASAT-3b and Optus 10 payload and associated integration/deployment hardware.

In congratulating all who contributed to “making the difference” with tonight’s success, Arianespace’s Stéphane Israël added: “This difference enables Arianespace to remain the commercial space transportation leader. Thanks to you, Ariane 5 keeps the pace; Arianespace is on the move.”

Israël said the company’s next launch is another Ariane 5 dual-passenger mission to geostationary transfer orbit in October. It will carry ISDLA-1 for DIRECTV and Intelsat, which are two long-time customers of Arianespace; along with ARSAT’s ARSAT-1 – the first geostationary communications satellite built in Argentina.






Youtube video of Optus 10 launch

Airspace youtube channel:

Airspace launch of Optus 10:

[Xplorer]

It's getting harder to be really excited over the satellite scene (for the sat rx hobby side of things).

Looking forward to when these birds become operational, and seeing what services they will provide and what can be viewed and heard from them.


Final orbit position for these two:

Optus 10 at 164 deg. East
Measat-3b 91.5 deg. East.

[ol' boy]

Thanks, its bloody amazing watching that.

[hos here]

If it's slot is 164 deg E where is B3 going ?

Cheers
Hos Here

[gordon_s1942]

In one way there is no reason for B3 to go anywhere as Optus 10 could easily cohabit the same as they have done with C1 and D3.
According to a tiny article on page 20 in the Saturday's Sydney Daily Telegraph headed 'Rocketing to success', Optus is quoted as saying that this Satellite will 'Provide better Mobile Network coverage in Remote areas and greater bandwidth to support the delivery of video, data and phone services'.

If you remember when D3 was launched many forecast it would be months before it was fully operational, however before the month was up the transition had begun from C1 to D3 so if all goes according to whatever plans Optus has, Optus 10 could be on stream.

[apsattv]

I've got some photos somewhere of Rural Cell tower sites showing dishes on B3 @164E with motors to track the inclined orbit.

[ol' boy]

[ol' boy]

Things have been very quite at Optus 10.
You'd think it a bit surprising considering what its cost and life span.

Has anyone picked up a signal or anything from this new bird yet?

[gordon_s1942]

Optus recently advertised an 'upgrade' on a mobile tower in a nearby town with new panels and assorted other equipment as well which surprised me as the Tower would be barely 2 years old.
I would have thought it would have been up to date with the current needs with it only being that new.

[Xplorer]

On holidays, unable to search for any signals.
Hopefully someone can swing their dish around and see if anything comes up.

[Thala Dan]

Hasn't been much said about this bird since December last year.

I found this today:



and swung a 90cm around but couldn't find it.

Has anyone heard anything from Optus 10 yet?

[irritant]

Been checking out the technical details of the bird:



Fixed satellite services (FSS) is 12.25-12.75 GHz, Broadcast satellite services (BSS) is 11.70-12.20 GHz. Not sure what this really means? Are all the normal TV/radio services going to be in the 12.25-12.75 GHz band only?

[tristen]

...Has anyone heard anything from Optus 10 yet?

Yes, a recent blind scan indicates there is a feed - GWN News Backhaul on 12345, V, 7198, with occasional activity at various times.

Carriers only on 12484, V and 12595, V, with both channels indicating PCR pid only (65535) and same channel name TV1.

[Guiseppe]

Yes, a recent blind scan indicates there is a feed - GWN News Backhaul on 12345, V, 7198, with occasional activity at various times.

Carriers only on 12484, V and 12595, V, with both channels indicating PCR pid only (65535) and same channel name TV1.

GWN News Backhaul is in fact from the old B(?) satellite that is in an inclined orbit. Signal pops up roughly every 12 hours.

Yet another satellite not doing much!

[tristen]

GWN News Backhaul is in fact from the old B(?) satellite that is in an inclined orbit. Signal pops up roughly every 12 hours

So the channel has been there since before the launch of Optus 10?

The signal is very strong on a 90cm offset dish, and I too believe that B3's orbit is inclined and has been for some time now, so it could very well be on Optus 10.

I decided to look at the extent of inclined orbit for Optus B3 at 2102 hrs AEST from the real-time tracking site, .



I have checked for the presence of signals on what I believe to be Optus 10, including the three channels I have mentioned, at various times of day, and those signals have not varied, indicating (to me at least) that the satellite in question is stationary thus ruling out Optus B3, which leaves only Optus 10.

In addition, television networks tend to use large Ku-band dishes (with correspondingly narrow beamwidth) for backhauls, and I know from personal experience that some are fixed, i.e. not capable of tracking an inclined orbit satellite.

I shall continue monitoring over the next few days.

[geosatman]

I think your right tristen every time I check GWN backhaul it's rock solid. The signal is there very strong when I turn my 90cm on it even though the skew is set for Intelsat 19, which causes my receiver to get it on both H & V, don't think it would be possible if it was still on B3 (inclined).

[Thala Dan]

Had a quick crack at it today, in between (almost) snow showers, with a 70cm.

Couldn't input your two freqs, Tristen, as my meter (Satking SK6000) won't accept transponders without SR.

Had a look instead with the toy spectrum analyser in the meter, and found what looked like the right stuff, but levels were down around -45dbm, compared to most of the stuff I receive at -25 to -30.

Didn't look for 12345 because being a feed I suspected it may not be there all the time - but it seems from your and Geosatmans comments that this may not be so.

So tomorrow I'll have another crack at it with a 90 on the tripod, and I'll have another look for 12345.

It's heavily overcast and raining here, but IS19 Ku is getting through - in which case anything should.

Optus seems to be taking their time populating this bird, given that it was launched in September last year?

[irritant]

Optus seems to be taking their time populating this bird, given that it was launched in September last year?

Reminds one of the similar thing they did back in 1994/1995 with Optus B3 - launching it (1994) and then taking almost a year (1995) to add anything onto it. Takes a whole year off of the lifespan of the bird.

[tristen]

In between showers tonight (and by torchlight), I attempted to optimise my LNB skew for Optus 10.

N.B. My Ku-band dish is mounted on an horizon-to-horizon actuator, therefore the LNB was misaligned to enable reception of all satellites within east/west line-of-site.

I am assuming that Optus has persisted with their non-standard antennae alignment on this satellite as they have with all others to date. The inclusion of V and H in the channel names for signals on 12484 and 12595 respectively, tend to confirm this assumption.

Here, then, are the parameters for the signals I mentioned in post #13. This time confirmed by manual rather than blind scan.

12345, H, 7198, GWN News Backhaul (occasional audio and video - unencrypted but always a carrier present).
12484, V, 30000, TV1 - 12484H Super (appears to be carrier only - no audio or video and unencrypted).
12595, H, 30000, TV1 - 12595H Super (appears to be carrier only - no audio or video and unencrypted).

When the rain stops and I have a little spare time, I shall attempt to check LNB skew/polarisation more thoroughly.

[irritant]

As with previous Optus satellites, the first half of the transponders are designated vertical downlink and the second half horizontal downlink, according to the frequency plan, so:

Tp. Pol. Freq.

1 V 12287
2 V 12327
3 V 12367
4 V 12407
5 V 12447
6 V 12487
7 V 12527
8 V 12567
9 V 12607
10 V 12647
11 V 12687
12 V 12727

13 H 12278
14 H 12318
15 H 12358
16 H 12398
17 H 12438
18 H 12478
19 H 12518
20 H 12558
21 H 12598
22 H 12638
23 H 12678
24 H 12718

Transponder bandwidth is 36 MHz, with 4 MHz space, so half-transponders could be 9 MHz up or down from centre frequency.

Tp. 15 Lower would be at 12349 MHz Horizontal, Tp. 18 Upper would be at 12487 MHz Horizontal, Tp. 21 is at 12598 MHz Horizontal at centre frequency. These could be the transponders detected.

Other options could be Tp. 6 near centre frequency at 12487 MHz Vertical (but name says "TV1 - 12484H Super"), Tp. 9 Lower at 12598 MHz Vertical (but name says "TV1 - 12595H Super"). 12345 cannot be vertical as it would fall exactly in between transponder 2 and 3, in the 4 MHz gap.