After delaying the operation three times, the "Ariane 5" missile was launched Saturday from the Coro Space Center in French Guiana, according to the "Arianspace" group on its website, explaining that it was able to Putting two communication satellites and a third for maintenance into orbit.
"As part of this mission, three satellites were launched on board the best Ariane 5 missile launched so far, which demonstrates the competitiveness of our missile launch solutions and our ability to innovate continuously," the group´s CEO, Stefan Yisrael, expressed in a statement.
For this mission, the Ariane 5´s loading capacity has been increased by 85 kg.
The European missile was launched at 19:04 KURT (00:04 Paris time), for a mission that took about 48 minutes between launch and the satellites´ detachment.
The missile was supposed to be launched on July 28, but the operation was postponed for the first time "for an additional technical audit." Then it was postponed for a second time due to "unusual behavior of the probes in the liquid hydrogen tank in the main layer of the refrigeration technology (Creotechnique)".
Then the operation was postponed for a third time due to “weather conditions caused by winds in the upper layers”.
This is the first missile launch by the group since the "National Center for Space Studies" suspended work at the European Space Center in mid-March due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
A European missile "Vega" was supposed to be launched in mid-June, but the operation was postponed several times, especially due to unfavorable weather conditions. On Saturday, Stefan Yisrael announced that the launch of "Vega" is scheduled for the first of September.
Ariane 5 transferred two communications satellites (Galaxy 30 and BSAT-4B) for the Intelsat and P-SAT operating groups, and a satellite maintenance mechanism (MEF-2) for the “Specialogistics LLC” group, which is supposed to coalesce with Another device that is in orbit (Intelsat 10-02).
"Aryanspace", which launched a satellite maintenance mechanism for the first time, explained that "after its docking, it will control the orbit of the satellite with the help of its own means of propulsion."
She added, "After her mission to (Intelsat 10-02), (MEF-2) will be separated from the satellite to remain ready, waiting for another customer."
This is the 109th launch of the Ariane 5 missile, and the third in 2020, according to the National Center for Space Studies.
