GEOStar-2

This article is about the Orbital Science Corp. satellite platform. For others, see two star (disambiguation).

The STAR-2 Bus is a fully redundant, flight-proven, spacecraft bus designed for geosynchronous missions.

It is a satellite platform, designed and developed by Thomas van der Heyden for the Indonesian Cakrawarta satellite program in the early 1990s, now manufactured by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems with an apogee kick motor to place a communications satellite into geostationary orbit, a thruster to provide the satellite with orbital station-keeping for a 15-year mission, and solar arrays to provide the satellite payload with 5 kW of electrical power.[1]

Advantages

NGIS's GEOStar-2 bus design is unique within the satellite industry. NGIS's GEOStar-2 bus provides an affordable low-to-medium power satellite platform that is ideal for missions of this size. Rather than being a less efficient version of a larger, heavier product, NGIS's GEOStar-2 bus is designed specifically for the 1000 to 5550 watts payload class.[1]

Design

The GEOStar-2 bus satellite is a modular, mass efficient structure, designed for simplified integration to reduce manufacturing cycle times. The structure is supported by a composite thrust cylinder, to which the bus, payload, nadir and base panels are connected. Energy from two multi-panel solar wings and lithium-ion batteries is electronically processed to provide 36 volts regulated power to the satellite throughout the mission. All active units aboard the satellite are connected through a 1553 data bus. Commands and telemetry are processed through the flight software resident on the flight processor, which provides robust autonomous control to all GEOStar-2 satellites. The modularity of the structure and the standard 1553 interfaces allow parallel assembly and test of the bus and payload systems, reducing manufacturing schedule risk by minimizing the time spent in serial satellite integration and test flow.[1] GEOStar-2 is designed for missions up to 15 years in duration. The propulsion system is sized for ten years of station keeping in geosynchronous orbit. Built-in radiation hardness for the severe geosynchronous environment is achieved through conservative selection of electronic parts.[2] Several available options augment the basic bus to provide improved pointing, more payload power, secure communications, higher downlink data rates or enhanced payload computing power.

Structure

  • Bus Dimensions (H x W x L): 1.75 x 1.7 x 1.8 m
  • Construction: Composite/Al [1]

Power subsystem

  • Payload Power: Up to 5550 watts orbit average at 15 years
  • Bus Voltage: 24-36 VDC (nominal)
  • Solar Arrays: multi-junction GaAs cells
  • Batteries: lithium-ion[1]

Attitude control subsystem

Command and data handling subsystem

  • Flight Processor: MIL-STD-1750A
  • Interface Architecture: MIL-STD 1553B, CCSDS [1]

Payload support

While primary applications are Fixed-Satellite Services (FSS) and Broadcast Satellite Services (BSS), the GEOStar-2 bus can be adapted for MSS, Earth and space science applications, as well as for technology demonstration or risk reduction programs. Depending on mission duration requirements, the GEOStar-2 bus can accommodate payloads in excess of 500 kilograms, and provide up to 5550 watts of power. Instrument data can be provided in standard format such as CCSDS or through secured encryption, as approved by the National Security Agency (NSA).[1]

Shared launch opportunities

Due to the size and mass envelope of the satellite, the GEOStar-2 bus is compatible with almost all commercially available launch vehicles, maximizing opportunity for launch and access to space. While dedicated or single launch services are more readily available, the GEOStar-2 bus targets shared launch opportunities, where launch cost and launch-sharing opportunities are favorable.[1]

Mission services

Customers can purchase the GEOStar-2 bus spacecraft bus alone, or as part of a turn-key service that includes an integrated payload, network operations center and launch vehicle. NGIS conducts spacecraft commissioning from its own ground station prior to transferring spacecraft control to the customer's operations center.[1]

Satellite Orders

Satellite Country Operator Type Transponders Launch date (UTC) Rocket Changes Status
AMC-21 United States SES Americom Television broadcasting 24 Ku-band 14 August 2008 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Amazonas 4A Spain Hispasat Communications 24 Ku-band 14 August 2008 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a Azerbaijan Azercosmos Communications 24 C-band, 12 Ku-band 7 February 2013 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Eutelsat 5 West B International Eutelsat Communications 35 Ku-band 9 October 2019 Proton-M
Phase 4 		Active
Galaxy 12 United States PanAmSat Television broadcasting 20-24 C-band 9 April 2003 Ariane 5 G Active
Galaxy 14 United States PanAmSat Television broadcasting 20-24 C-band 13 August 2005 Soyuz-FG Active
Galaxy 15 United States PanAmSat Television broadcasting 20-24 C-band 13 October 2005 Ariane 5 GS Active
Galaxy 30 United States Intelsat Television broadcasting C-band, Ku-band, Ka-band,
and WAAS payload 		15 August 2020 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Horizons-2 United States, Japan PanAmSat, SKY Perfect JSAT Communications 20 Ku-band 21 December 2007 Ariane 5 GS Active
HYLAS 2 United Kingdom Avanti Communications Satellite internet 24 Ka-band 2 August 2012 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Intelsat 11 United States Intelsat Communications 16 C-band, 18 Ka-band 5 October 2007 Ariane 5 GS Formerly PAS 11 Active
Intelsat 15 United States Intelsat Communications 22 Ku-band 30 November 2009 Zenit-3SLB Active
Intelsat 16 United States Intelsat Communications 24 Ku-band 12 February 2010 Proton-M
Phase 1 		Formerly PAS 11R Active
Intelsat 18 United States Intelsat Communications 24 C-band, 12 Ku-band 5 October 2011 Zenit-3SLB Active
Intelsat 23 United States Intelsat Communications 24 C-band, 15 Ku-band 14 October 2012 Proton-M
Phase 3 		Active
Koreasat 6 South Korea KT Corporation Television broadcasting 30 Ku-band 29 December 2010 Ariane 5 ECA Active
MEASAT-3a Malaysia MEASAT Satellite Systems Television broadcasting 12 C-band, 12 Ku-band 21 June 2009 Zenit-3SLB Active
Mexsat-3 Mexico Mexican Satellite System Mobile communications 12 C-band, 12 Ku-band 19 December 2012 Ariane 5 ECA Active
N-STAR c Japan NTT Docomo Mobile communications 1 C-band, 20 S-band 5 July 2002 Ariane 5 G Retired
New Dawn United States Intelsat Television broadcasting 28 C-band, 24 Ku-band 22 April 2011 Ariane 5 ECA Known as Intelsat 28 Active
NSS-9 Netherlands SES World Skies Communications 28 C-band 12 February 2009 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Optus D1 Australia Optus Television broadcasting 24 Ku-band 13 October 2006 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Optus D2 Australia Optus Television broadcasting 24 Ku-band 5 October 2007 Ariane 5 GS Active
Optus D3 Australia Optus Television broadcasting 24 Ku-band 21 August 2009 Ariane 5 ECA Active
SES-1 United States SES Americom Communications 24 C-band, 24 Ku-band, 2 Ka-band 24 April 2010 Proton-M
Phase 2 		Formerly AMC-4R Active
SES-2 and CHIRP
(Commercially Hosted InfraRed Payload) 		United States SES Americom Communications 24 C-band, 24 Ku-band, 2 Ka-band 21 September 2011 Ariane 5 ECA Formerly AMC-5R Active
SES-3 United States SES Americom Communications 24 C-band, 24 Ku-band, 2 Ka-band 15 July 2011 Proton-M
Phase 3 		Active
SES-8 Luxembourg SES Television broadcasting 33 Ku-band 3 December 2013 Falcon 9 Active
Sky-Mexico 1 Mexico DirecTV Television broadcasting 24 Ku-band, 2 R-band 27 May 2015 Ariane 5 ECA Known as SKYM 1 Active
Star One C3 Brazil Star One Communications 28 C-band, 16 Ku-band 10 November 2012 Ariane 5 ECA Active
Telkom-2 Indonesia Telkom Indonesia Communications 24 C-band 16 November 2005 Ariane 5 ECA Retired
Thaicom 6 Thailand Thaicom Communications 24 C-band, 9 Ku-band 6 January 2014 Falcon 9 Known as AfriCom 1 Active
Thaicom 8 Thailand Thaicom Communications 24 Ku-band 27 May 2016 Falcon 9 Active
Thor 5 Norway Telenor Television broadcasting 24 Ku-band 11 February 2008 Proton-M
Phase 3 		Active

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Orbital ATK" (PDF). Orbital.com. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  2. ^ "→ Star-2 → GeoStar-2". 20 February 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.