spacetoday.net: Ariane launches communications and military satellites

Posted: Fri, Feb 13, 2009, 7:29 AM ET (1229 GMT)
Ariane 5 launch of Hot Bird 10 and NSS-9 (ESA/CNES/Arianespace)

An Ariane 5 successfully launched a pair of commercial communications satellites and two military technology demonstration satellites Thursday evening. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana at 5:09 pm EST (2209 GMT) and placed the Hot Bird 10, NSS-9, and Spirale A and B satellites into their respective orbits. Hot Bird 10 is an EADS Astrium Eurostar E3000 spacecraft that weighed 4,892 kilograms at launch and carries 64 Ku-band transponders. The spacecraft is owned by Eutelsat, which will operate it from first at 7 degrees west in GEO and later 13 degrees east to provide TV broadcasting services for the Middle East and other regions. NSS-9 is a Star-2 model built by Orbital Sciences, weighing 2,290 kilograms at launch at carrying 44 C-band transponders. Its owner, SES New Skies, will use the spacecraft at 177 degrees east to provide communications services throughout the Pacific. Also on board the Ariane 5 were a pair of technology demonstration satellites, Spirale A and B. The spacecraft, built by EADS Astrium for the French military, are designed to test systems that could be used on later missile early warning satellites. The launch was the first of as many as eight Ariane 5 missions this year.