Ariane Successfully Launches DirecTV 4S to GEO

An Ariane 44LP successfully launched DirecTV 4S from Kourou, pad ELA-2 at 0035 UTC (4:35 p.m. PST November 26) on November 27. Twenty-one minutes after launch the satellite was successfully placed into a geosynchronous transfer orbit of 199.8 km (107.9 nmi) by 35,972 km (19,423.3 nmi), inclined 7.00 degrees to the equator. The satellite will be co-located in geostationary orbit at 101°W with other DirecTV satellites. Over the next two weeks ground controllers will maneuver DirecTV 4S into a circular geostationary orbit. By the end of December the satellite should be operational. DirecTV 4S will provide DirecTV with the capacity to deliver additional local channels in major U.S. television markets, while also strengthening the redundancy of the company’s in-orbit fleet. The spacecraft will enable DirecTV to add more than 300 local channels to its existing local channel programming in 41 markets to meet the federal “must carry” requirement of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act by its effective date of Jan. 1, 2002. The DirecTV 5 satellite is scheduled for launch early next year aboard a Proton rocket, which will allow DirecTV to expand its local TV programming into additional markets. The estimated cost of the DirecTV 4S satellite, launch and insurance is over US$200 million.

This is the first satellite both for DirecTV and Boeing that uses spot beams. This technology reuses the same frequencies on multiple spot beams to reach the major television markets where DirecTV delivers the signals of local network affiliates.

The 4247 kg (9,360 lbm) Boeing 601HP satellite was built for DirecTV Inc. by Boeing Satellite Systems. The spacecraft carries two Ku-band payloads: spot beams for local channels, and a national beam payload. The spot beam payload will use a total of 38 traveling wave-tube amplifiers (TWTAs) ranging in power from 30 to 88 watts. The national beam payload carries two active transponders with further capability for two active high-power transponders and six active low-power transponders. The spacecraft's two solar arrays are together designed to deliver 8.300 kW of power at the end of its 15-year design life. DirecTV 4S is the 200^th commercial satellite built by the company that was formerly known as Hughes.

The DirecTV 4S solar arrays use triple-junction gallium arsenide solar. Triple-junction solar cells have a three-layered structure, with each layer able to capture and convert a different portion of the solar spectrum which will be able to convert 24.5 percent of the sun's energy into electricity.

DirecTV has more than 10.3 million customers. DirecTV Inc. is a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics Corp. Hughes is a unit of General Motors Corp. Echostar Communications has made an offer to purchase DirecTV Inc., PanAmSat Corporation and Spaceways from General Motors. The deal is subject to clearing several regulatory reviews.

Arianespace set a new record in preparing the satellite for launch, working seven days a week, three shifts a day, the company was able to ready DirecTV 4S for launch less than three weeks after it was delivered to the launch site. The next Arianespace launch is planned for January 16, 2002, when an Ariane 4 is scheduled to launch Insat 3C for the India Space Research Organization (ISRO). Nine more Ariane 4 launch vehicles remain to fly, before the rocket is retired. 

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