Ariane launches two satellites
Posted: Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 6:58 AM ET (1058 GMT)
An Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched two satellites on Wednesday night, a day after a previous launch attempt was postponed by a strike. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 5:38 pm EDT (2138 GMT) and placed the Arabsat 5C and SES-2 satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits about a half-hour later. Arabsat 5C, built jointly by EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, weighed 4,630 kilograms at launch; it will provide C- and Ka-band communications services from 20 degrees east in GEO. SES-2, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, weighed 3,200 kilograms at launch; it will provide C- and Ku-band communications services from 87 degrees west. SES-2 also carries an experimental infrared sensor as a hosted payload for the US Air Force. The launch, the fifth this year for the Ariane 5, had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed when workers at the spaceport went on strike earlier that day. The workers ended their brief strike before yesterday's launch.
An Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched two satellites on Wednesday night, a day after a previous launch attempt was postponed by a strike. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 5:38 pm EDT (2138 GMT) and placed the Arabsat 5C and SES-2 satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits about a half-hour later. Arabsat 5C, built jointly by EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, weighed 4,630 kilograms at launch; it will provide C- and Ka-band communications services from 20 degrees east in GEO. SES-2, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, weighed 3,200 kilograms at launch; it will provide C- and Ku-band communications services from 87 degrees west. SES-2 also carries an experimental infrared sensor as a hosted payload for the US Air Force. The launch, the fifth this year for the Ariane 5, had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed when workers at the spaceport went on strike earlier that day. The workers ended their brief strike before yesterday's launch.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
NASA to launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in September
Posted: Sat, Apr 25 10:54 AM ET (1454 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, April 29
Another one: Ariane 6 flies with four boosters once more
ESA — 5:23 am ET (0923 GMT) Design Booster teams conduct Final Design Review at ESTEC
ESA — 5:23 am ET (0923 GMT) SpaceX to launch Starlink mission from Vandenberg SFB Wednesday night
Lompoc Record — 5:21 am ET (0921 GMT) PNG court clears the way for Starlink
The Interpreter — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) True Anomaly raises $650 million to support space interceptors for Trump’s Golden Dome
CNBC — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) |
