Yamal (Russian: Яма́л) is a communication and broadcasting system developed and operated by Gazprom Space Systems. Born out of the connectivity needs of the natural gas extraction giant Gazprom, the system was spun off in its own company, and opened the network to third parties and even went into the public broadcasting industry. It is, along with RSCC's Ekspress constellation, the only national satellite operators in Russia.
Contents
History
During 1997, even before the launch of their first satellites (Yamal 101 and Yamal 102), Gazkom 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 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°E slot and Yamal 202 and Yamal 204 would also be twins and be positioned at the 49°E slot.
Yamal 101 and Yamal 102 were launched together on September 6, 1999 at 16:36 UTC from Baikonur Site 81/23 by a Proton-K/Blok-DM-2M directly to GEO. But a failure in the electrical system at solar panel deployment meant that Yamal 101 was lost right after the successful launch. Thus, Gazkom registered Yamal 102 as Yamal 101. This has caused significant confusion but the records are clear that the satellite that failed was, in fact, the original Yamal 101.
Yamal 201 and Yamal 202 were launched on November 24, 2003 at 16:2 UTC from Baikonur Site 81/23 by a Proton-K/Blok-DM-2M directly to GEO. The launch and satellite deployment was successful and both were commissioned into service.
By 2007 the program delays made Gazkom move to the Yamal 301 and Yamal 302 project, cancelling both Yamal 203 and Yamal 204. Those were more advanced versions of the spacecraft they would have to replace. But by early 2008 Energia and Gazkom enter into a disagreement over the cost and schedule of Yamal-301 and Yamal-302, which was even submitted to arbitrage. In the end the contract with Energia is cancelled and a new Yamal-300K is hastily ordered from ISS Reshetnev for a 2009 launch date.
In February 2009, Gazprom Space Systems announced a contract with Thales Alenia Space for two satellites: Yamal-401 and Yamal-402. This was the first time a foreign supplier would build a satellite for internal Russian market. After much lobby from local industry, the contract for the bus and integration of Yamal-401 is cancelled and awarded to ISS Reshetnev, but Thales is allowed to keep the payload supply.
On August 9, 2010 it was decommissioned and sent to a graveyard orbit. The satellite lasted 4079 days (11 years 2 months), a bit short of the design life of 12.5 years.
Yamal 300K was launched along Luch 5B November 2, 2012 at 21:04 UTC from Baikonur Site 81/23 by a Proton-M/Briz-M directly to GEO. The launch and satellite deployment was successful and Yamal 300K was commissioned into service.
On December 8, 2012 13:13:43 UTC a Proton-M/Briz-M launches Yamal-402 to a geostationary transfer orbit. The same day, Khrunichev Center and International Launch Services reported an anomaly during the launch in which the Briz-M stage failed 4 minutes before scheduled shut down on its fourth burn. On December 10, specialists from Thales Alenia Space carried out maneuvers to bring the satellite into its designated orbit after a premature separation from Briz-M. On 15 December 15, Yamal-402 was taken to its planned geostationary orbit at the altitude of 36,000 km following a series of four adjustment operations. The satellite lost 4 years of fuel to compensate for lower than expected orbit injection.
In 2013 Gazprom Board decides a new plan. It requires two new spacecrafts: Yamal-501 and Yamal-601. It also calls for a new seven spacecraft observation constellation of optical and radar low-earth orbit satellites called SMOTR. And also requires for Gazprom Space Systems to develop its own satellite design and manufacturing capabilities.
In 2014 Gazprom announces a contract with Thales Alenia Space for a new spacecraft, Yamal-601.
On June 5, 2014 Yamal 201 failed and the clients had to be moved to other satellites of the network. The satellite lasted 3846 days (10 years 6.5 months), short of the design life of 12.5 years.
On December 15, 2014, at 00:16:00 UTC a Proton-M/Briz-M launches Yamal-401 directly to geostationary orbit. The launch is successful and the spacecraft is accepted into service.
In 2015 history would repeat itself and the contract of Yamal-601 with Thales is cancelled is assigned to ISS Reshetnev, but Thales is allowed to keep the payload supply, again.
Yamal Satellite Series
While initially Gazkom used RSC Energia as exclusive supplier and planned for a 24 bird constellation, after the