Yamal 201

Yamal-201 was a geostationary communications satellite operated by Gazprom Space Systems and built by RSC Energia. It was, along with Yamal-202 the second dual launch of the Yamal programme and the second iteration of the USP Bus. It was a satellite with 4,080 watts of power on an unpressurized bus. It had eight SPT-70 Electrically [powered spacecraft propulsion|electric thrusters] by OKB Fakel for station keeping. Its payload was 9 C-band and 6 Ku-band transponders supplied by Space Systems/Loral.

History

During 1997, even before the launch of their first satellites, Gazprom Space Systems was planning the second generation. At that time, they planned a 24 satellites of the second generation. This extremely aggressive plan was scaled back by 2001 with a plan to launch four Yamal-200 series satellites. The first two, Yamal-201 and Yamal-202 would be launched by 2001 and the second pair, Yamal-203 and Yamal-204 by 2004. Yamal-201 and Yamal-203 would be identical and be positioned at the 90° East orbital position and Yamal-202 and Yamal-204 would also be twins and be positioned at the 49° East.

Launch

Yamal-201 was launched, along Yamal 202, on 24 November 2003 at 06:22:00 UTC from Baikonur Baikonur [Cosmodrome Site 81|Site 81/23] by a Proton-K / Blok DM-2M directly to geostationary orbit. The launch and satellite deployment was successful and Yamal-201 was commissioned into service. On 5 June 2014, Yamal-201 failed and the clients had to be moved to other satellites of the network. The satellite lasted 10 years and 6.5 months, short of the design life of 12 years.