Simon Bolivar (Венесат-1/VENESAT-1) – CZ-3B – XSLC, LC3 – 29.10.2008

[sleo]

$440 млн - это дешево?

Спутник, запуск, две наземные станции и обучение специалистов. В общем-то недорого.

На этом фоне Казсат - практически даром. Неужели Венесуэле предлагалась цена, бОльшая, чем итоговая китайская?

[Liss]

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90781/90876/6550673.html

"Жэньминь жибао" сообщает об успешном заверешении орбитальных испытаний Venesat-1 и о готовности к сдаче его заказчику.

[Salo]

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2009/01/venezuela-becom.html

Venezuela becomes satellite power
posted by Geoff Nordhoff on Jan 8, 2009 1:52:39 AM
 
   Venezuela becomes a satellite power this weekend - when it's scheduled to take full control of the Simon Bolivar telecommunications satellite, according to news reports.
    The Chinese-built satellite was launched last fall from China.The project included the training of Venezuelan satellite technicians and construction of ground facilities.
    The geostationary satellite has a service area from southern Mexico to the middle of Argentina and Chile, and will be used in telecommunications as well as social development programs, a prime interest of Venezuela's leader, Hugo Chavez.
     Venezuela will become the fourth Latin American country - after Brazil, Argentina and Mexico - to have satellite technology, according to the reports.
    The satellite is named for Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan-born Latin American liberator and revolutionary.

[Humorist]

$440 млн - это дешево?

Спутник, запуск, две наземные станции и обучение специалистов. В общем-то недорого.

гонцы побывали не только в Роскосмосе но и конкретно заезжали в ЦиХ, знаю что там делали ТКП для них и прорабатывался спутник.

с другой стороны Казахстан всего за 65 млн$ получил все тоже самое что и эти ребята, только спутник был в 2 раза меньше.

[Salo]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-12/01/c_13630926.htm

China-made satellite keeps remote areas in Venezuela connected[/size]
English.news.cn   2010-12-01 21:08:06

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A China-made-and-launched communications satellite has for two years helped develop education and communications in Venezuela, especially in this South American nation's remote regions.

More than 1,700 education centers, 89 energy resource stations and 214 agricultural infrastructure points have been connected through the Venesat-1 satellite that was launched on Oct. 30, 2008 by China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), a company statement said Wednesday.

CGWIC is the sole Chinese government-authorized commercial satellite launching company. It is also involved in international space cooperation.

In two years of operation, the satellite has promoted the development of telecommunications, broadcasting, remote education and medical services in Venezuela, the statement said.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation built the satellite, which has a designed service period of 15 years.

[instml]

Уго Чавес продемонстрировал модель второго венесуэльского спутника

МЕХИКО, 10 фев - РИА Новости, Дмитрий Знаменский. Президент Венесуэлы Уго Чавес в прямом эфире национального телевидения продемонстрировал в пятницу модель второго спутника, который должен быть запущен Венесуэлой до конца текущего года с помощью Китая.

"Мы назовем его "Миранда", мне нравится это название", - сказал Чавес. Франсиско де Миранда был руководителем борьбы за независимость испанских колоний в Южной Америке, является национальным героем Венесуэлы и создателем ее флага.

Сейчас на околоземной орбите уже работает венесуэльский спутник, названный именем Симона Боливара, еще одного видного борца против испанского владычества в Южной Америке. Он был запущен в 2008 году также с территории Китая и предназначен для обеспечения связи, трансляции радио- и телепередач, а также других гражданских целей.

Новый спутник будет заниматься наблюдением, он будет выведен на низкую орбиту в 639 километрах от поверхности Земли.

Чавес выразил уверенность, что Венесуэла сможет добраться и до Марса. "Венесуэла вышла на космическую дорогу, никто еще не долетал до Марса, а Венесуэла долетит, это наша следующая цель на период 2030-2040 годов", - сказал Чавес.

Он также выразил уверенность, что путь до Марса сможет преодолеть и Китай, работающий в этом направлении.

http://ria.ru/world/20120210/562506183.html

[tnt22]

https://www.seradata.com/its-not-just-people-that-get-sick-venesat-is-retired-to-graveyard-after-suspected-power-issue/

It's not just people that get sick: Venesat is retired to graveyard after suspected power issue
by David Todd | Mar 23, 2020 | Reliability Info, Satellites, , Technology

While it was the mortality of humans which exercised the minds of most on Earth during the Covid-19 Coronavirus outbreak, satellite operators also had some problems with their satellites.  It became very apparent that something was wrong with the 11-year-old Venesat-1 (Simon Bolivar) Venezuelan communicatons satellite when it was summarily moved to an graveyard orbit in Mid March.


Artist's impression of Venesat-1 with its Long March 3B launch vehicle. Courtesy: YouTube

The communications satellite, which uses the Chinese-built DFH-4 bus, reportedly lost one of its solar array drive mechanisms in February, followed by its second solar array's drive the following month.

The result was an emergency attempt to raise the spacecraft a few hundred kilometers above the standard Geostationary orbit.  However, this only half worked as only the apogee seemed fully raised. There is speculation that the spacecraft's battery power ran out as it tried to raise the perigee as well.

Post script: While not related to the above, it is rumoured that another major commercial communications satellite has a power issue.

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

https://spacenews.com/solar-array-problem-killed-venezuelas-venesat-1-officials-confirm/

Solar array problem killed Venezuela's VeneSat-1, officials confirm
by Caleb Henry — March 30, 2020


VeneSat-1 was spotted tumbling in an orbit above other satellites before confirmation of its failure. Credit: MINCYT

WASHINGTON — Venezuela confirmed its first and only government-operated communications satellite, VeneSat-1, suffered a mission-ending failure that its Chinese builder blamed on a solar array problem.

Satellite trackers at U.S. companies AGI and ExoAnalytic Solutions on March 13 spotted VeneSat-1 tumbling in an unusual orbit above the geostationary arc.

On March 25, after SpaceNews reported the apparent satellite failure, Venezuela's ministry of science and technology acknowledged the loss of VeneSat-1 but did not provide a cause.

However, Fu Zhiheng, executive vice president of China Great Wall Industry Corp., which built VeneSat-1 for the Venezuelan government, told SpaceNews the satellite suffered a solar array drive assembly problem that resulted in VeneSat-1's failure and emergency relocation effort.

Drive assemblies point a satellite's solar arrays at the sun to provide power. A failure of both drive assemblies can leave a satellite operator with just hours of battery power to retire its spacecraft before it becomes inoperable, according to an industry source familiar with satellite designs. Geostationary satellites are typically retired into so-called graveyard orbits high enough to prevent them from posing a hazard to operating satellites.

VeneSat-1's operators performed two maneuvers March 13 to relocate the ailing satellite above the geostationary belt, a popular orbit roughly 36,000 kilometers above the equator.

The first maneuver stretched VeneSat-1's orbit from circular to elliptical, with a high point, or apogee, about 525 kilometers above the geosynchronous arc, Bill Therien, ExoAnalytic Solutions vice president of engineering, said by email. A second maneuver followed three hours later that raised its low point, or perigee, by 50 kilometers, he said. VeneSat-1 began tumbling shortly after that second maneuver, he said.

Therien described the orbit as "not typical," but still high enough to steer clear of active spacecraft. A nominal graveyard orbit is circular and at least 300 kilometers above the geosynchronous arc, he said.

VeneSat-1 was China Great Wall's third satellite based on its DFH-4 platform but only the first to operate past its infancy. The first DFH-4 satellite, SinoSat-2, failed shortly after launch in 2006 because its solar arrays never fully opened. The second DFH-4 satellite, NigComSat-1, failed in 2008 because of problems with its solar array drive assemblies.

More than a dozen DFH-4 satellites have launched since then without reported issues. But the first high-capacity DFH-4E satellite, ChinaSat-18, failed last year from a power failure shortly after launch.

An industry source said VeneSat-1's failure appears to have had no impact on the launch schedule for Nusantara-2, an Indonesian satellite based on a DFH-4 platform scheduled for April on a Long March 3B rocket.

VeneSat-1 failed three years before its expected end of life. The satellite, also called the Simon Bolivar satellite, provided television broadcasting and broadband connectivity services.

[zandr]

http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/news/53881/

Причиной выхода из строя спутника VeneSat-1 объявлен отказ солнечных батарей
 Венесуэла подтвердила что, что разработанный китайским производителем космический аппарат VeneSat-1 вышел из строя (за три года до окончания срока активного существования) из-за проблем с солнечными батареями, сообщает сайт ecoruspace.me. Как отметили представители China Great Wall Industry Corp. на аппарате отказали приводы ориентации солнечных батарей, а следовательно экстренным перевод спутника на другую орбиту был вызван ограниченным запасом электроэнергии в аккумуляторных батареях.
В связи с этим оператор VeneSat-1 13 марта осуществил два маневра по подъему космического аппарата на орбиту выше, чем геостационарная.
А.Ж.