Oxidizer Loaded on the Intelsat 14 Satellite

Oxidizer was loaded on the Intelsat 14 satellite on Friday, 9 October - precisely 1,949.8 kg.

It’s important to get the mass of propellants exactly right for a number of reasons. Together, the two components of the propellants make up more than half the mass of the satellite at launch. The numbers are used by the launch service provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA), to plug into their trajectory analyses to come up with an optimum set of parameters to load into the guidance software of the Atlas V rocket. The end goal is to drop the Intelsat 14 satellite exactly where we need it to be in space to garner the longest possible spacecraft lifetime.

The propulsion technicians from Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), in their bizarre-looking SCAPE suits – aka Self Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble, finished the oxidizer loading without spilling a trace. This oxidizer nitrogen tetroxide, supercharged with 3% NO, is a highly corrosive brown substance similar to red-fuming nitric acid, and it can eat through concrete. The vapors are extremely toxic, and that’s why the protective suits with external breathing lines are worn by the technicians. These are not your ordinary petrol-station attendants.

Today, they moved the equipment containing the fuel for tomorrow’s load into the high bay and positioned it near the Intelsat 14 satellite. It's necessary to keep the bi-propellant components scrupulously separate, because they are hypergolic - they explode with a fury when they come into contact with one another. The fuel is monomethyl hydrazine, which is colorless and has an odor some say is similar to rotten fish mixed with ammonia. It is highly flammable, as well as toxic, so the technicians will again dress in SCAPE suits when they conduct the fuel loading operation.

(Photo: Video monitoring of Oxidizer loading operation)

~ Contributed by Daniel Lilienstein, Intelsat 14 Program Manager, Space Systems Acquisition, blogging from Cape Canaveral, Florida