After three postponements, the Ariane 5 rocket was able to take off on Saturday from Kourou, in French Guiana, and put two telecommunications satellites and a refueler into orbit, according to a broadcast on the Arianespace site. "As part of this mission, three satellites were loaded on board the most efficient Ariane 5 rocket ever launched, thus demonstrating the competitiveness of our launch solutions and our ability to continuously innovate", says Stéphane Israël, president. Arianespace executive in a press release. For this flight, Ariane 5's carrying capacity has been increased by 85 kg.
The initial launch was scheduled for July 28
The European heavy launcher tore off the ground at 7:04 p.m. Kourou time (i.e. 12:04 a.m. Paris time on the night of August 15 to 16) for a mission of approximately 48 minutes, from takeoff to separation of satellites.
The launch, initially scheduled for July 28, was first postponed "in order to carry out additional technical inspections", then again because "of an abnormal behavior of a probe in the liquid hydrogen tank of the cryogenic main stage ". And a third time, Thursday, for "unfavorable wind conditions at altitude".
Arianespace is signing its first launch since the freezing of European spaceport activities decreed in mid-March by the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) due to the Covid-19.
Ariane 5's third launch in 2020
A European Vega rocket was to take off in mid-June but the launch had to be postponed several times due to particularly unfavorable weather conditions. Its launch is now scheduled for September 1, Stéphane Israël announced on Saturday.
Ariane 5 takes with it two telecommunications satellites (Galaxy 30 and BSAT-4b) for the benefit of the operators Intelsat and B-SAT and a satellite maintenance vehicle (MEV-2) for SpaceLogistics LLC which must dock with another device already in orbit (Intelsat 10-02). "Once docked, it will control the orbit of the client satellite using its own thrusters. After its mission for Intelsat 10-02, MEV-2 will undock and be available for another client's vehicle," Arianespace had specified, for which this is the first launch of a satellite maintenance vehicle.
This launch was the 109th of Ariane 5, the third of Ariane 5 in 2020 and the third of the year at the Guiana Space Center (CSG), recalls the Cnes.