Avi Blizovsky
Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/amos2update301203.html
The aerospace industry team overseeing the Amos 2 satellite postponed the ignition scheduled for Monday at 06:00. This is what Zvi Kopelman, head of the Communications Satellite Administration at Mevt-Hellal, tells the scientist website.
According to Kopelman, the team estimated that this time was not the optimal time for ignition, and that ignition at this time would be wasteful in terms of fuel consumption.
It should be noted that when the Amos 1 satellite was put into orbit in 1996, the aviation industry people were able to save fuel thanks to the correct timing of the ignitions, which were intended to put the satellite into a more circular and higher orbit each time. This savings made it possible to extend the life of the satellite by another two years, which is worth a lot of money in contracts with the telecommunications companies.
"Amos 2", which was launched on Saturday evening from the missile site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, separated about seven hours after its launch from the Russian "Soyuz" satellite launcher and it moves through inertia in space at a speed of 7000 m per second and completes each revolution in 12 hours.
When it reaches its fixed location in space, the speed of "Amos 2" will be equal to the angular speed of the Earth; So that the satellite will remain, relative to the Earth, hanging in the same place without movement.
During the coming week, the engines of "Amos 2" will be activated several times. In this activity, the satellite's engines will consume about 450 kg of fuel out of the amount of about 750 kg of fuel found in its tanks. The rest of the fuel will be used over the next 12 years to return the satellite to its orbit in the event of a deviation.
Yedan Amos 2
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~723792065~~~151&SiteName=hayadan
