Arianespace is keeping up its mission pace as two additional Ariane 5s are now in process at French Guiana, following the vehicle that launched a payload of two telecommunications satellites on 21 August, with a total of seven Ariane 5 missions targeted for 2009 – making it the busiest year of activity since Arianespace’s commercial introduction of the workhorse launcher in 1999.
The recent launch orbited U.S.-built payloads for two key Arianespace customers in the Asia-Pacific region: JCSAT-12 for Japan’s SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, and Optus D3 for the Optus telecommunications provider of Australia.
These two satellites weighed a combined total of about 14,300 pounds, and they were injected into geostationary transfer orbit during a flight lasting just over 34 minutes.
The Ariane 5 for the company’s fourth mission of 2009 was transferred from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building to the ELA-3 launch zone. It rode atop one of two mobile launch tables in operation for Ariane 5.
Its rollout opened the Final Assembly Building to receive the Ariane 5 for Arianespace’s subsequent mission, which has completed its initial build-up in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building.
Separately, the components for another Ariane 5 arrived in French Guiana yesterday, delivered by the MN Colibri, one of two roll-on/roll-off sea-going vessels operated for Arianespace to transport launch vehicles from their European manufacturers to South America.
The elements for this latest Ariane 5 will be moved by road from Pariacabo port near Kourou to the Spaceport, enabling its assembly to begin shortly in the Launcher Integration Building.
The European Space Agency (ESA) last week signed a deal with its Russian counterpart Roscosmos to cooperate on two Mars exploration projects, Russia’s Interfax news agency said.