Athena fidus
| Athena fidus | |
|---|---|
| Start date | February 6, 2014, 21:30 UTC |
| Launcher | Ariane 5 ECA VA-217 |
| Launch site | CSG , ELA-3 |
| COSPAR-ID : | 2014-006B |
| Takeoff mass | 3080 kg |
| Dimensions | 2.86 m × 1.8 m × 2.95 m |
| Manufacturer | Thales Alenia Space |
| Satellite bus | Spacebus 4000 |
| lifespan | > 15 years |
| Stabilization | Three-axis stabilization |
| operator | CNES / ASI |
| Playback information | |
| Transponder | 23 Ka band and EHF band |
| Others | |
| Electrical power | 5.85 kW (EOL) |
| position | |
| First position | 38 ° East |
| List of geostationary satellites | |
Athena-Fidus ( A ccess on Th eatres for E uropean N ations A llied forces - F rench I talian D ual U se S atellite) is a military communication satellite of the French space agency CNES and the Italian space agency ASI . The defense ministries of Belgium, France and Italy as well as the French and Italian civil defense are also involved in the project.
He was born on February 6, 2014 at 21:30 UTC with an Ariane 5 ECA - launch vehicle 3 ELA from the launch pad of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou , together with ABS 2 after 27 minutes in a geostationary transfer orbit exposed (GTO). The satellite reached the geostationary orbit with its own propulsion from this orbit with a perigee of 150 miles and an apogee of 35,937 miles .
The Athena-Fidus, which was manufactured in Cannes in France and cost 140 million euros, is equipped with 23 Ka and other EHF band transponders and is to be used from 38 ° East to complement the French Syracuse and Italian SICRAL satellites that are already circling the earth serve. It was built by Thales Alenia Space on the basis of the Spacebus 4000 B2 satellite bus and has a planned service life of 15 years. The payload should provide a transmission capacity of 3 Gbit / s in the Ka-band , based on the DVB-RCS and DVB-S2 protocols . The Italian payload consists of separate amplifier units and special antennas for civilian customers and the military. The antenna farm includes two antennas (a 30/20 GHz antenna for civil use and a 44/30/20 GHz antenna for the military) and two other controllable antennas 30/20 GHz that provide broadband telecommunications services for the Italian Military, as well as for institutional and humanitarian missions outside Italy.
In September 2018, France accused Russia of trying to intercept French military communications via Athena-Fidus with the help of the "Lutsch-Olymp" satellite. Defense Secretary Florence Parly spoke of espionage .
Web links
- ASI / Telespazio: ATHENA-Fidus (English)
- CNES: Athena-Fidus ( Memento of March 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Thales: Thales Alenia Space chosen to build Athena-Fidus, the French-Italian dual telecommunications system (English)
- Space News: Thales Alenia Gets $ 384 Million Contract for CNES Athena-Fidus (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Thomas Weyrauch: First Ariane 5 launch in 2014: Two Comsats in space. Raumfahrer.net, February 8, 2014, accessed February 10, 2014 .
- ^ Arianespace launches two telecom satellites. (PDF) Arianespace, accessed February 10, 2014 .
- ↑ Satellite spied out: France accuses Russia of espionage in space . In: T-online.de , September 7, 2018, accessed on September 27, 2018.