Ariane 5 Orbits Star
One C2 And Vinasat-1 On Its 24th Consecutive Successful Launch
(18 April 2008) Arianespace tonight launched telecommunications satellites for Brazil and Vietnam on the 24th consecutive mission success of Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
Ariane 5 makes its on-time lift-off from Europe Spaceport's ELA-3 launch zone in French Guiana. (courtesy: ESA, CNES, Arianespace, Photo Optique Video du CSG)
The heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA deployed Star
One C2 and Vinasat-1 into geostationary transfer orbit during a 31-minute
mission, which began with an on-time lift-off from the Spaceport's ELA-3 launch
zone at 7:17 p.m. local time.
This is the second of seven flights
planned in 2008 with the workhorse Ariane 5 as Arianespace delivers on its
Service & Solutions commitment to the company's international
customers.
"Ariane 5's new success tonight further strengthens
Arianespace's no. 1 position world-wide," said Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le
Gall after the mission. "This did not happen by chance - it is the result of
our strategy to perform dual-payload missions with the same launcher
configuration every time: the Ariane 5 ECA. It's a winning strategy that allows
the match-up [of payloads] for successful launches, on time, which is what our
clients want."
Le Gall noted that as Ariane 5's mission rate continues
to accelerate at Europe's Spaceport, the vehicle will soon be complemented by
operations of the medium-lift Soyuz and lightweight Vega launchers from French
Guiana.
During tonight's flight, Star One C2 rode as the upper passenger
in Ariane 5's payload "stack," and was deployed approximately 26 minutes after
lift-off. Built by Europe's Thales Alenia Space, the 4,100-kg. spacecraft will
be used by Brazilian telecommunications operator Star One.
Star One C2
carries a payload of 28 C-band transponders, 16 Ku-band transponders and 1
X-band transponder, and will provide telecommunications, multimedia and
Internet services over South America from an orbital position of 70 deg.
West.
Arianespace's live launch broadcast was shown at an event in Hanoi, which was attended by more than 150 government officials, including Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, along with representatives from the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and its customers. (courtesy: Arianespace)
Vinasat-1 was the lower passenger on Ariane
5, with its deployment occurring 31 minutes into the mission. Manufactured in
the U.S. by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, it will become Vietnam's
first telecommunications satellite - operated by the Vietnam Posts and
Telecommunications Group.
The 2,600-kg.Vinasat-1 is configured with a
payload of 12 Ku-band and 8 C-band transponders for radio, television and
telephone transmission services over all of Vietnam and the Asia Pacific
region.
Vinasat-1's final geostationary orbit position will be 132 deg.
East. This was the 39th Lockheed Martin spacecraft to be launched by
Arianespace, while Star One C2 was the eighth Brazilian satellite - and the
52nd Thales Alenia Space platform - to use an Ariane vehicle.
Tonight's
success will be followed by an April 27 flight performed by Arianespace's
Starsem affiliate from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This mission will
use a Soyuz launcher to orbit the European GIOVE-B navigation
satellite.
Arianespace's next Ariane 5 mission is scheduled for May 23,
when an Ariane 5 ECA will orbit the dual-passenger payload of the U.K.'s Skynet
5C secure military communications satellite and the Turksat 3A spacecraft for
Turkey.
(source: Arianespace)
