MN35-13 (Morocco EO Sat 1) - Vega (VV11) - Kourou ZLV - 08.11.2017 01:42:30 UTC

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NOTMAR, возможно, 3-я ст РН
 

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NOTMAR, возможно, AVUM
 

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NOTAMs

Соответствуют 1-й ст РН, 2-й ст РН, ГО

SOOO

A0501/17 - TEMPORARY DANGEROUS AREA ACTIVATED DUE TO ROCKET LAUNCHING
  VEGA ZA/VV11
  LATERAL LIMITS AS FOLLOWS  QUADRILATERAL :
  0903N05251W 0903N05246W 0814N05250W 0814N05245W. AMSL - UNL, DAILY : 0042-0212,
08 NOV 00:42 2017 UNTIL 18 NOV 02:12 2017. CREATED: 19 OCT 11:07 2017

A0500/17 - DANGEROUS AREA SOD1 ACTIVATED. DAILY: 0042-0212, 08 NOV 00:42 2017 UNTIL 18 NOV
02:12 2017. CREATED: 19 OCT 10:57 2017

KZWY

A0536/17 - DUE TO MIL STNR ALT RESERVATION VEGA VV11 WI THE NEW YORK
OCEANIC CTA/FIR, NEW YORK OCEANIC WILL NOT ACCEPT IFR FLIGHT WI AN
AREA DEFINED AS: 2012N05407W TO 2013N05358W TO 1830N05350W TO
1830N05358W TO START. SFC - FL999, DLY 0042-0212, 08 NOV 00:42 2017 UNTIL 18
NOV 02:12 2017. CREATED: 03 NOV 19:33 2017

Соответствуют 3-й ст РН

PAZA

A0665/17 - HAZARD AREA ESTABLSHED DUE TO FALLING SPACE LAUNCH DEBRIS WI
AN AREA DEFINED AS 8143N15512W TO 8107N15436W TO 7750N16900E TO
7822N16636E TO POINT OF ORGIN. THIS NOTAM APPLICABLE FOR PAZA
FIR ONLY. REFER TO UHMM NOTAMS FOR OTHER DETAILS. IN THE INTEREST
OF FLT SAFETY ALL ACFT ADZ TO AVOID FLT WI HAZARD AREA. REFER
QUESTIONS TO ANCHORAGE ARTCC TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AT +1
(907)-269-1108. SFC - UNL, DLY 0151-0307, 08 NOV 01:51 2017 UNTIL 18 NOV 03:07
2017. CREATED: 03 NOV 16:42 2017

UHMM

P4846/17 - TEMPO DANGER AREA ACT:
782200N1663600E-775000N1690000E-803042N1685824W-
811218N1685824W-782200N1663600E. SFC - UNL, DAILY 0151-0307, 08 NOV 01:51 2017
UNTIL 18 NOV 03:07 2017. CREATED: 20 OCT 07:01 2017

Соответствует AVUM

YMMM

F3296/17 - ROCKET LAUNCH FROM FRENCH GUIANA WILL TAKE PLACE
VEGA LAUNCH VV11 LAST STAGE FALLING AREA (AVUM) WILL IMPACT THE
MELBOUNRE FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION (FIR)
THE DANGER ZONE IS BOUNDED BY THE FOLLOWING COORDINATES:
S14 37 E089 58
S14 43 E090 25
S25 24 E087 34
S25 30 E088 00. DAILY 0353/0509, 08 NOV 03:53 2017 UNTIL 18 NOV 05:09 2017.
CREATED: 18 OCT 20:47 2017

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Stéphane Israël‏ @arianespaceceo 18 мин. назад

All clear! Launch readiness review has authorized #Vega Flight #VV11 for its November 7 liftoff at 10:42:31 p.m. local time in French Guiana

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Наконец опубликованы тексты Launch readiness review

VV11_RAL_EN.pdf - http://www.arianespace.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/VV11_RAL_EN.pdf

VV11_RAL_FR.pdf - http://www.arianespace.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/VV11_RAL_FR.pdf

 

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http://spaceflight101.com/vega-vv11/vega-rocket-cleared-to-launch-imaging-satellite-for-morocco/

Vega Rocket Cleared to Launch Imaging Satellite for Morocco
November 7, 2017

Europe's Vega rocket has been given the green light for a nighttime liftoff fr om French Guiana at 1:42 UTC on Wednesday with the Mohammed VI-A satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco. Built by European aerospace companies Airbus and Thales Alenia, the satellite is flying a semi-secret mission to double as a civilian asset for environmental monitoring and mapping and as a military imaging craft to collect data for border and coastal security in the North African nation.

Спойлер

Photo: ESA (File Image)

The Moroccan government contracted Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space in late 2013 for a pair of high-resolution imaging satellites based on the Pleiades high-resolution imaging spacecraft launched for operation by the French Space Agency in 2011 and 2012. Due to their role in national security, the two missions were treated with some secrecy – showing up under the code names MN35-A and MN35-13 in Airbus documentation before the Mohammed VI designation was revealed only a few weeks before launch.


The only depictions of MN35-A can be found in the Vega VV11 Launch Poster & Arianespace Launch Kit – Credit: CSG/Arianespace

No photos of the satellites have been published with the exception of illustrative depictions in the official launch poster for the mission, but it is understood that both MN35 satellites use the same architecture of Pleiades and the upcoming Falcon Eye satellites, also built under a similar collaboration between Airbus and Thales for the United Arab Emirates, targeting launch atop Vega rockets in 2018/19.

The 1,110-Kilogram Mohammed VI-A satellite is based on the Airbus AstroSat-1000 platform, a highly agile design relying on Control Moment Gyros for rapid slew capability that allows the satellite to image a multitude of ground targets in a single observation pass. The craft's instrument, provided by Thales Alenia as an upgraded version of the Pleiades imager, uses a 65-centimeter telescope and advanced line detector arrays to capture black-and-white imagery at a ground resolution better than 70 centimeters and color / near-infrared imagery at a resolution better than three meters.

>> Mohammed VI-A Satellite Overview


Pleiades Satellite Pre-Launch – Photo: Airbus Defence & Space

According to official information, the two Mohammed VI satellites will be used for mapping and land surveying, regional development, agricultural monitoring, disaster prevention and monitoring, environmental and desertification monitoring as well as border and coastal surveillance.

The launch contracts for the two Mohammed VI satellites were only awarded to Arianespace early this year and the Mohammed VI-A satellite takes advantage of a launch slot opening on relatively short notice after ESA's ADM-Aeolus experimental wind-profiling satellite suffered a lengthy launch delay into mid-2018. With the VV11 launch slot opening up, advantage was taken to accelerate the launch of Mohammed VI-A as the satellite had already finished construction and environmental testing.

Without much fanfare, the satellite arrived at the launch site on September 22 to enter final processing including fit checks with its launch adapter and loading Hydrazine maneuvering propellant into the satellite. The four-stage Vega rocket finished stacking in October and the satellite had taken its place atop the vehicle by November 3 for final checkouts leading into a Launch Readiness Review conducted on Monday to provide final clearance for liftoff Tuesday night.


Photo: ESA (File Image)

Tuesday night's launch is the eleventh flight of the light-left member in the Arianespace launch vehicle family, the third and last planned Vega mission in 2017 and the tenth Arianespace-operated launch this year.

With an all-solid rocket and an upper stage carrying storable propellants, Vega will not require any dynamic operations such as propellant loading during its countdown. Countdown operations pick up at T-9 hours and 10 minutes and are largely focused on checks of the rocket's Multi-Function Unit that is in charge of controlling all aspects of the mission. Both payloads will be on internal power when Vega's automatic countdown sequence kicks off at T-4 minutes to put the rocket through final reconfigurations for liftoff, targeted for precisely 1:42:31 UTC.

Upon Ignition of its P80 first stage, Vega will literally jump off the ground – generating a total thrust of 280,000 Kilogram-force to lift the 137-metric-ton vehicle. Seconds after lifting off, Vega will pitch over to begin flying to the north, aiming for a Sun Synchronous Insertion though the exact target orbit parameters have not been released for this semi-secret mission.

The 11.2-meter long first stage will burn over 88 metric tons of solid propellant in just 117 seconds, accelerating the rocket to a speed of around 1.7 Kilometers per second. Burnout on the first stage is sensed by the declining chamber pressure, triggering the pyrotechnic stage separation sequence at T+1:57 to set up for the ignition of the second stage, designated Zefiro-23.

>> Vega Launch Vehicle

The Z23, loaded with 24 metric tons of packed propellant, will soar to an average thrust of 122 metric-ton-force for a burn of 77 seconds.


Photo: Arianespace/ESA/CNES/Optique Video du CSG

Separation of the 8.4-meter second stage is expected after Vega climbed to an altitude of around 150 Kilometers and a speed exceeding 3.5 Kilometers per second. Ignition of the Zefiro-9 stage comes 12 seconds after Z23 separation at T+3:52. Although it is the smallest of the three stages, Z9 has the longest burn time – firing for 120 seconds at an average thrust of 23 metric-ton force.

The protective payload fairing will split open and separate five seconds into the burn of the third stage when Vega will be well outside the dense atmosphere wh ere aerodynamic forces can no longer harm the vehicle. Zefiro 9 accelerates the vehicle nearly to orbital velocity, aiming for separation from the AVUM, the Attitude and Vernier Upper Module, six minutes and 34 seconds into the flight.

AVUM will be tasked with a fairly straightforward two burn mission typical for SSO injections with the first burn to lift the stack into an elliptical Parking Orbit peaking at the desired orbital altitude for half an orbit of coasting ahead of a circularization maneuver. Ignition of the AVUM Main Engine Assembly, built around a Ukrainian RD-869 engine, is planned eight minutes and three seconds into the flight on a burn of seven minutes and 45 seconds to reach orbit.

>> Flight Profile


Göktürk Ascent Profile (Similar) – Image: Arianespace

The 250-Kilogram-force main engine will re-light 52 minutes and 6 seconds into the flight on a shorter burn of one minute and 51 seconds to circularize the orbit and set the stage for the spring-loaded separation of the Mohammed VI-A satellite at T+55 minutes and 33 seconds.

At this point, the primary mission will be completed and Airbus tasked with initial acquisition and commissioning of the satellite ahead of several weeks of checkouts and fine-tuning of the optical payload before the spacecraft will be turned over to its operator. AVUM will be set for another 78-second burn one hour and 47 minutes into the flight to remove itself from orbit to close out Wednesday's mission.

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Arianespace опубликовала исправленый вариант Launch Kit (англ. версия):

VV11-launchkit-EN3.pdf - 339271 B, 8 стр, 2017-11-07 15:06:13 UTC

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Updated: 11/07/2017 21:55

A European Vega rocket is counting down to liftoff Tuesday from the Guiana Space Center on the northern shoreline of South America with a high-resolution reconnaissance satellite for the Moroccan government.

Спойлер

The Mohammed VI-A satellite, named for the Moroccan king, will ride the Vega booster into orbit from Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff is timed for 0142:31 GMT Wednesday (8:42:31 p.m. EST; 10:42:31 p.m. French Guiana time Tuesday).

It will be the 11th launch of a Vega rocket, a light-class, solid-fueled launcher developed in Europe with Italian leadership. The launch will mark the eighth time a Vega rocket has launched on an Earth observation mission.

The Mohammed VI-A satellite is designed for civilian and military uses, but little information about the spacecraft's capabilities has been released. It was only know by the codename MN35-13, and the satellite's end user was undisclosed until an official announcement of the impending launch last week.
The satellite has launch weight of around 2,450 pounds (1,110 kilograms), according to Arianespace, the Vega rocket's commercial operator.

The Moroccan government ordered two high-resolution Earth observation satellites from Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defense and Space in 2013 after an intergovernmental agreement between Morocco and France.

The two European aerospace contractors, normally competitors, teamed up on the program, with Thales taking lead as prime contractor and supplier of the satellites' optical imaging equipment, and Airbus responsible for constructing the spacecraft platforms in Toulouse, France.

Developed in secrecy, Mohammed VI-A is the first of the two satellites to launch, heading for a sun-synchronous orbit a few hundred miles above Earth. The satellite's exact planned altitude has not been publicized.

A second spacecraft, presumably named Mohammed VI-B, will launch on a Vega rocket from French Guiana next year.

Moroccan security forces will use the satellites to help combat insurgent militants in the Sahel, such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, and for border enforcement, according to a report in El Pais, a Spanish newspaper. The entire program, including two satellites, launch services and ground support, reportedly cost around 500 million euros ($580 million).

Observers believe the Mohammed VI satellites are based on Airbus' AstroSat-1000 design. An artist's concept of Mohammed VI-A shows an outward appearance similar to France's two Pleiades Earth observation satellites and two Falcon Eye spacecraft ordered from Airbus by the United Arab Emirates.

The Pleiades satellites, which provide imagery for government and commercial customers, were launched in 2011 and 2012 into orbits around 435 miles (700 kilometers) high. Each Pleiades satellite can take pictures with a resolution as sharp as 2.3 feet (70 centimeters), and post-processing can improve the image quality to 1.6 feet (50 centimeters).

The Falcon Eye and Mohammed VI satellites are believed to have comparable capabilities.

The final countdown for Tuesday's launch began at 1632 GMT (11:32 a.m. EST). Power-up of the Vega rocket is expected to begin around 1942 GMT (2:42 p.m. EST) to begin testing of its on-board computer and navigation systems.

Meanwhile, ground teams are turning on the Mohammed VI-A satellite and confirming its readiness for tonight's ride into orbit.

The computer will be tested and loaded with the mission's flight software program at 2102 GMT (4:02 p.m. EST), and the Vega's navigation unit will be aligned and verified functional 2112 GMT (4:12 p.m. EST).

The launch team will receive a weather briefing before rollback of the Vega launch facility's mobile gantry. The launch pad's mobile service tower will be retracted to launch position at 2227 GMT (5:27 p.m. EST), rolling on rails to a point 260 feet (80 meters) from the Vega rocket.

The launcher's navigation system will be tested again at 2317 GMT (6:17 p.m. EST), and Vega's telemetry transmitters and transponders are activated again after the rollback of the launch pad gantry around 0027 GMT (7:27 p.m. EST).

Engineers will verify the readiness of Vega's systems at 0052 GMT (7:52 p.m. EST), and a final pre-launch weather briefing is scheduled for 0132 GMT (8:32 p.m. EST).

The synchronized launch sequence takes over the countdown about four minutes prior to liftoff. The computer-controlled final sequence checks thousands of parameters in the final steps of the countdown. 
After liftoff, Vega will clear the pad's four lightning towers and pitch north from the Guiana Space Center, heading over the Atlantic Ocean and surpassing the speed of sound in about 30 seconds.

The Vega's solid-fueled P80FW first stage, producing a maximum of 683,000 pounds of thrust, burns out 117 seconds after liftoff, giving way to the launcher's Zefiro 23 second stage at an altitude of about 33 miles (53 kilometers).

After a 102-second burn, the second stage consumes its propellant 3 minutes, 40 seconds after launch and separates. The Vega's third stage, the Zefiro 9A motor, ignites 3 minutes, 52 seconds into the mission.

A few seconds later, Vega's Swiss-built 8.5-foot-diameter (2.6-meter) payload fairing will jettison. 
Vega's third stage fires for more than two minutes, turning off and separating 6 minutes, 34 seconds after liftoff.

The fourth stage, known as AVUM, ignites its liquid-fueled Ukrainian RD-843 engine 8 minutes, 3 seconds into the mission, burning for nearly eight minutes to reach a transfer orbit above Earth. 
After coasting more than 36 minutes, the AVUM fourth stage will fire again at Plus+52 minutes, 6 seconds for almost two minutes to reach a circular orbit for deployment of the Mohammed VI-A spacecraft.

Separation of the Mohammed VI-A satellite is scheduled for 55 minutes, 33 seconds after liftoff.
A third ignition of the upper stage engine will de-orbit the rocket to avoid creating space junk.

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[us2-star]

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Arianespace‏ @Arianespace 18 мин. назад

It's launch day! Liftoff of #Vega Flight #VV11 is planned from French Guiana at 10:42:31 p.m. local time

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 1 ч. назад

ARTICLE: Arianespace Vega rocket set for Mohammed VI-A launch - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/11/arianespace-vega-mohammed-vi-a-launch/ ... - by William Graham

Спойлер

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Arianespace Vega rocket set for Mohammed VI-A launch

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Arianespace‏ @Arianespace 4 мин. назад

Get ready! The live broadcast for Flight #VV11, the third #Vega mission of the year, will begin in one hour on http://Arianespace.com 

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 3 мин. назад

Mohammed VI-A is launching on #VV11 after ESA's ADM-Aeolus suffered a delay to 2018, freeing up a launch slot on short notice. The mission has been treated with some secrecy, initially starting out under the code names MN35-A and MN35-13.

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11/08/2017 03:13

All systems are reported to be "go" for launch tonight in an instantaneous launch opportunity at 0142:31 GMT (8:42:31 p.m. EST).

Спойлер

So far in the countdown, Vega's systems have been powered on and launch controllers have checked communications, tracking and command links between the rocket and ground facilities at the Guiana Space Center.

The launch pad's 16-story mobile gantry should now be retracted to its launch position about 260 feet (80 meters) fr om the rocket.

The 270-square-mile space center, run by the French space agency, CNES, and the European Space Agency, is located on the jungle coastline of French Guiana, situated on the northeast corner of South America.

The Vega launch pad, known by its French acronym ZLV, is about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) southwest of the Ariane 5 launch complex. It was built on the former site of ELA-1, the home of Ariane 1, Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 launchers from 1979 until 1989.

Construction of the Vega launch pad began in 2004, including the building of a new 16-story mobile gantry weighing some 1,000 metric tons. A fixed umbilical mast standing 105 feet tall provides air conditioning to the Vega's payload.

Workers also added four lightning towers at the pad to protect the Vega rocket from thunderstorms. 
Unlike the Ariane 5 rocket, the Vega's stages are stacked on the pad inside the mobile gantry, which provides protection of the launcher from weather at the spaceport.

Vega's countdown is managed from Guiana Space Center's prime control center less than a mile from the launch pad, the same building wh ere Ariane 5's countdown is controlled.

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11/08/2017 03:42

T-minus 60 minutes and counting. There continue to be no problems reported in the countdown for launch of Vega tonight. Liftoff is set for 0142:31 GMT (8:42:31 p.m. EST; 10:42:31 p.m. local time) from French Guiana.

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http://spaceflight101.com/vega-vv11/photos-vega-launch-campaign-for-moroccan-mohammed-vi-a-satellite/

Photos: Vega Launch Campaign for Moroccan Mohammed VI-A Satellite
November 3, 2017

Photos of the Vega VV11 launch campaign show the stacking of the four-stage launch vehicle for a hush-hush satellite delivery for the government of the Kingdom of Morocco, involving a European-built high-resolution imaging satellite that is to double in a civilian and national security function. Mohammed VI-A is a 1,100kg satellite based on the Pleiades HR project, commissioned by Morocco as one of two satellites launching in 2017 & 18 to provide image products for mapping, environmental monitoring, disaster prevention and mitigation and border / coastal security.

Спойлер

All Photos: Arianespace/ESA/CNES/Optique Video du CSG

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11/08/2017 04:07

T-minus 35 minutes. Some statistics on today's flight:

[/li]
• 11th Vega launch
• 3rd Vega launch of 2017
• 10th launch from Guiana Space Center in 2017
• 36th launch from the ELA-1/SLV launch pad
• 150th Thales Alenia Space satellite launched by Arianespace
• 293rd Arianespace mission
  

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11/08/2017 04:10

The Vega rocket has just one second to launch tonight or else liftoff will be delayed to another day. The time is fixed for 0142:31 GMT (8:42:31 p.m. EST; 10:42:31 p.m. French Guiana time).

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11/08/2017 04:17

After liftoff, Vega will clear the pad's four lightning towers and pitch north from the Guiana Space Center, heading over the Atlantic Ocean and surpassing the speed of sound in about 30 seconds.

Спойлер

The Vega's solid-fueled P80FW first stage, producing a maximum of 683,000 pounds of thrust, burns out 117 seconds after liftoff, giving way to the launcher's Zefiro 23 second stage at an altitude of about 33 miles (53 kilometers). 

After a 102-second burn, the second stage consumes its propellant 3 minutes, 40 seconds after launch and separates. The Vega's third stage, the Zefiro 9A motor, ignites 3 minutes, 52 seconds into the mission. 

A few seconds later, Vega's Swiss-built 8.5-foot-diameter (2.6-meter) payload fairing will jettison. 
Vega's third stage fires for more than two minutes, turning off and separating 6 minutes, 34 seconds after liftoff. 

The fourth stage, known as AVUM, ignites its liquid-fueled Ukrainian RD-843 engine 8 minutes, 3 seconds into the mission, burning for nearly eight minutes to reach a transfer orbit above Earth. 

After coasting more than 36 minutes, the AVUM fourth stage will fire again at Plus+52 minutes, 6 seconds for almost two minutes to reach a circular orbit for deployment of the Mohammed VI-A spacecraft.

Separation of the Mohammed VI-A satellite is scheduled for 55 minutes, 33 seconds after liftoff.
A third ignition of the upper stage engine will de-orbit the rocket to avoid creating space junk.

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