Soyuz Flight VS16

with Hispasat 36W-1

overview

Payload(s)
Hispasat 36W-1
Launch vehicle
Soyuz
Launch date
January 27, 2017
Customer(s)
Hispasat
Status
Success
Prime contractor(s)
OHB-System
Launch site
Spaceport, French Guiana (Guiana Space Center)

mission
description

For its year-opening launch of 2017, Arianespace will orbit the Hispasat 36W-1 geostationary satellite for the Spanish operator Hispasat using a Soyuz launch vehicle.

Designated Flight VS16 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system, this mission will be the first-ever mission to geostationary transfer orbit performed by Soyuz from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

Hispasat 36W-1 is the first satellite to be built using Europe’s new “SmallGEO” platform developed by OHB System AG (Germany) under ESA’s ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) program.

Kourou
22:03:34 p.m. (Jan. 27)
Washington, D.C.
20:03:34 p.m. (Jan. 27)
Universal Time (UTC)
01:03:34 (Jan. 28)
Paris
02:03:34 a.m. (Jan. 28)

Payload

Hispasat 36W-1 satellite

vs16-hispasat-satellite-img

Hispasat 36W-1 is a telecommunications satellite for Hispasat, and the first to be built using Europe’s new “SmallGEO” platform.

Hispasat is the Spanish satellite communications operator, a leader in the distribution of content in Spanish and Portuguese. With more than 25 years’ experience, the Hispasat Group maintains an important presence on the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America, where it is now the fourth-largest satellite operator.

Hispasat distributes more than 1,250 television and radio channels through its powerful fleet of satellites and is a key driver for the Spanish aerospace industry.

The Hispasat 36W-1 satellite features the innovative RedSAT regenerative payload, along with an antenna equipped with a processor that allows onboard beam reconfiguration. It is fitted with 20 Ku-band transponders and the additional capacity of three transponders in Ka band.

From its orbital position at 36 deg. West, Hispasat 36W-1 will allow Hispasat to provide a wide range of telecommunications services in Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and South America. 

Hispasat 36W-1 was built by OHB System AG in Bremen, Germany, using a SmallGEO platform.

Developed by OHB System AG under ESA’s ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) program, the SmallGEO platform line offers satellite operators an entirely European solution in the smaller telecom satellite market by speeding up the production and testing processes, reducing costs and broadening the range of design options.

For Hispasat 36W-1, OHB System AG is in charge of satellite integration, in-orbit tests and satellite commissioning, before handing over operational responsibility to Hispasat.

Hispasat 36W-1 is the first GEO satellite built by OHB System AG, and the company’s 15th satellite overall to be launched by Arianespace.

countdown
and flight

events
  • Beginning of the meeting for launcher fueling authorization (BTR)
  • Launch vehicle fueling begins
  • End of fueling operations
  • Mobile gantry withdrawal
  • show the countdown
  • Liftoff
    00:00
  • show the countdown
  • Hispasat 36W-1 separation
  • End of the Arianespace mission