In its 70th flight, Arianespace’s Ariane-5 ECA heavy-lift launcher successfully orbited Europe’s largest ever telecommunications satel...
In its 70th flight, Arianespace’s Ariane-5 ECA heavy-lift launcher successfully orbited Europe’s largest ever telecommunications satellite, Alphasat, and India’s latest meteorological spacecraft, INSAT-3D.
The third mission in 2013, Ariane 5 lifted off exactly on schedule at 4:54 p.m. local time from the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch zone in French Guiana for a nearly 33-minute flight, which marked the launcher’s 56th consecutive successful mission.
Ariane 5 delivered a total lift performance of 9,760 kg., which included a combined total of some 8,770 kg. for the mission’s two passengers, in addition to the SYLDA dispenser system and hardware in Arianespace’s dual-payload stack.
Europe’s next-generation telecommunications satellite
Deployed first in the flight sequence nearly 28 minutes after liftoff, Alphasat is configured with a new-generation L-band geo-mobile communications relay system that will provide voice and data transmission services across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Alphasat results from a public-private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and operator Inmarsat, with support from the CNES French space agency. It evolved from ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) program. The UK Space Agency – in cooperation with the UK’s Regional Development Agencies for London, South-East England and East of England – backed the development of critical new payload technologies under the ARTES program. This spacecraft is the first for Europe’s new Alpha bus platform, jointly developed by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space.
With a liftoff mass of 6,650 kg., Alphasat was one of the heaviest passengers carried in the upper position of Ariane 5’s payload “stack.”
INSAT-3D: Covering the Indian subcontinent
Some five minutes after Alphasat’s deployment, Ariane 5 completed its mission with the successful separation of INSAT-3D, which will provide enhanced meteorological observation and monitoring of land/ocean surfaces. The satellite carries a six-channel imager and 19-channel sounder, as well as a data relay transponder for satellite-aided search and rescue operations.
INSAT-3D is adapted from India’s I-2K spacecraft bus and was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) space agency with its ISRO Space Applications Centre.
India's INSAT-3D is the 16th ISRO spacecraft the company has orbited – a partnership that dates back to the third Ariane 1 flight in 1981 – while Alphasat is the eighth payload launched by Arianespace for Inmarsat.
Designated Ariane Flight VA214 in the company’s numbering system – this mission represented the 214th launch since operations began with the Ariane series of vehicles at the near-equatorial French Guiana launch site in 1979.
Arianespace’s next launch is targeted for August 29, using an Ariane 5 to orbit the Eutelsat 25B/Es’hail-1 for Es’hailSat and Eutelsat, along with GSAT-7 for the Indian Space Research Organisation.
www.arianespace.com
