Kourou (AFP)
An Ariane 5 rocket launched Thursday from Kourou, French Guiana, to place in orbit two telecommunications satellites for Africa, Western Europe and India, AFP noted.
The European launcher took off at 6:05 p.m. local time (10:05 p.m. in Paris, 9:05 p.m. GMT) from the Guyana space center for its first mission of the year.
The rocket is to place in geostationary orbit (36,000 km from Earth) two telecommunications satellites, Eutelsat Konnect for the operator Eutelsat and GSAT-30 for the Indian Space Agency (ISRO).
The planned duration of the mission is 38 minutes.
Eutelsat Konnect is a new "all-electric" satellite, which should allow the European operator to offer access to a maximum speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbit / sec) and contribute to "greatly reducing the digital divide in 40 countries in Africa and 15 western European countries, "said Arianespace.
GSAT-30 will provide television, telecommunication and broadcast services throughout India, including the islands.
2020 promises to be a pivotal year for the company responsible for the operation and marketing of European launchers, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. It intends to carry out before the end of the year the inaugural shots of the new Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets.
Arianespace plans to launch more than 300 satellites in 2020, half of what it has placed in orbit in 40 years, notably thanks to the deployment of the OneWeb constellation.
© 2020 AFP