spacetoday.net: Ariane launches pair of communications satellites

Posted: Wed, May 16, 2012, 7:03 AM ET (1103 GMT)
Ariane 5 launch of JCSAT-13 and Vinasat-2 (Arianespace)

An Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched a pair of Lockheed Martin-built communications satellites for Japan and Vietnam on Tuesday evening. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 6:13 pm EDT (2213 GMT) Tuesday and placed the JCSAT-13 and Vinasat-2 communications satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit about a half-hour later. JCSAT-13, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX model satellite, weighed 4,528 kilograms at launch and carried 44 Ku-band transponders. It will be used by SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation to provide direct TV broadcast services for Japan from its location at 124 degrees east in GEO, replacing the existing JCSAT-4A. Vinasat-2, a Lockheed Martin A2100 model satellite, weighed 2,969 kilograms at launch and carries 24 Ku-band transponders. Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group will use the satellite to provide radio, TV, and telephone services for Vietnam and surrounding nations from 131.8 degrees east in GEO. The launch was the 48th consecutive successful Ariane 5 launch, a streak stretch back nearly a decade.