Europe is successfully returning to space after several months of interruption caused by the cessation of Russian Soyuz launches.

Ariane 5 has indeed placed two telecommunications satellites in orbit overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

For one of its final missions, the rocket took off Wednesday at 6:50 p.m. (11:50 p.m. in Paris) from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana, after a 45-minute countdown interruption for technical checks.

The two enormous boosters, thrusters attached along the main body of the rocket, ripped the 770-ton monster from the ground, consuming the 240 tonnes of powder each contained in just two minutes.

At the same time, the powerful Vulcain 2 engine swallowed in eight minutes 225 tonnes of liquid oxygen and hydrogen needed to pull Ariane 5 out of Earth's gravity.

A great successful mission for the first #Ariane5 of the year.

I would like to congratulate the operational staff who worked for this success, showing once again the excellence of the teams.

See you in July for the inaugural #VegaC flight that we are all waiting for!

pic.twitter.com/ZfHeBcTPEV

– Marie Anne Clair (@MarieAnne_Clair) June 23, 2022


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The launcher carried under its fairing the Measat-3d satellite, from the Malaysian operator Measat, and GSAT-24, operated by the commercial arm of the Indian space agency (ISRO), announced Arianespace and Arianegroup.

The two satellites, totaling a payload of 9.8 tonnes, are dedicated to telecommunications services and satellite TV broadcasting.

Measat 3-d will also be able to provide high-speed Internet connection services and will be used by the South Korean space agency to improve air traffic management in the country.

The war in Ukraine has changed the calendar in Kourou

Just over 28 minutes after the launch, the rocket's upper stage released Measat-3d at nearly 1,200 kilometers in altitude, then 12 minutes later the GSAT-24 satellite as the launch vehicle flew over the Indian Ocean. at 3,800 kilometers above sea level.

From these “geostationary transfer” orbits, the two satellites will reach their position nearly 36,000 kilometers from the Earth from where they will begin their missions.

The expected lifetime of Measat-3d is more than 18 years, and 15 years for GSAT-24.

For the Guiana Space Center (CSG), this launch is the second of the year, the first since the final launch of the Russian Soyuz rocket from Kourou on February 10: the Russian invasion of Ukraine cut short any European cooperation with Russia and deprived Kourou of the three other Soyuz launches initially planned for 2022.

The European Space Agency (ESA), responsible for European launcher programs, must still ensure the launch of two Ariane 5 and two Vega rockets - smaller than Ariane - by the end of the year.

Among them, the inaugural launch of Vega-C, a more powerful version of Vega, is scheduled for July 7.

The first launch of Ariane 6, which will take over from Ariane 5, has been postponed to 2023.

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