The launch campaign for Arianespace's dual-satellite Ariane 5 mission is progressing on schedule for a lift-off this evening from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
Today's final countdown activities include an electrical system check and filling of the launcher's core cryogenic stage with liquid oxygen and hydrogen.
T– 11 h 30 mn Start of final countdown T – 7 h 30 mn Check of electrical systems T – 4 h 50 mn Start of filling of main cryogenic stage with liquid oxygen and hydrogen T – 3 h 20 mn Chill down of Vulcain main stage engine
Weather conditions: Humidity: 49% Wind: ESE at 10 km/h Temperature 34°C
Acceptable wind speed limits at lift-off range from between 7.5 m/s to 9.5 m/s according to the wind direction. The most critical is a northerly wind. For safety reasons, the wind’s speed on the ground (Kourou), and at a high altitude (between 10,000 and 20,000 m) is also taken into account.
The launch readiness review (RAL) took place in Kourou on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 and authorized count-down operations for the SYRACUSE 3A/GALAXY 15 Flight. Arianespace’s fourth mission of the year will place the two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit. They will be launched from the Ariane launch complex N° 3 (ELA3), in Kourou, French Guiana.
The Ariane 5 launcher lift-off is still scheduled for the night of October 13 to 14, 2005.
Following an extensive analysis of certain launcher elements, Arianespace has set the date for the next Ariane 5 launch for October 13 to launch
The launch is now scheduled for the evening of Thursday, October 13. An Ariane 5 Generic will be used to orbit the Syracuse 3A and Galaxy 15 satellites, with lift-off during the following launch window:
7:32 pm to 8:56 pm, local time in Kourou, French Guiana, 22:32 to 23:56, GMT, on Thursday, October 13, 6:32 pm to 7:56 pm, Washington, DC, 12:32 am to 1:56 am, on Friday, October 14 in Paris.
The launch of Syracuse 3A/Galaxy 15 has been delayed by a few days
An anomaly was found on an element of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. As a result Arianespace has decided to replace this element. This operation should take a few days and will lead to an equivalent delay of the launch, initially scheduled for September 29.
The Ariane 5 has rolled out of the Spaceport's Final Assembly Building for payload integration
Preparations for Arianespace's next Ariane 5 mission marked an important milestone today as the launcher was transferred from the integration building to the final assembly facility at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The rollout clears the way for the mission's two payloads to be integrated atop the Ariane 5, and enables final preparations to be completed for the planned September 29 liftoff.
The upcoming flight uses an Ariane 5 Generic version, which will carry the dual payload of France's Syracuse 3A governmental military communications satellite and the U.S. Galaxy 15 commercial telecom spacecraft for PanAmSat.
This mission is one of three Ariane 5 flights planned before year-end from Europe's Spaceport. The other two also will be dual satellite payload missions, using an Ariane 5 Generic and a heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA vehicle. Spacecraft scheduled to be orbited by these flights are India's Insat 4A telecommunications satellite, the MSG 2 meteorological platform for Europe, the U.S. Spaceway 2 broadband spacecraft, and Indonesia's TELKOM 2 C-band telecommunications satellite.
An Ariane 5 vehicle is being readied for liftoff on September 29 with a dual-satellite payload from ELA-3, Kourou, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The Ariane 5 Generic launcher will carry the French Syracuse 3A military communications satellite (built by Alcatel Alenia Space for the French DGA defence procurement agency) and the Galaxy 15 commercial telecom spacecraft (produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation for PanAmSat).
Ariane 5 is designed for such dual payloads, allowing satellites to be paired up for cost-effective launches.
The September mission follows successful back-to-back flights during August, in which an Ariane 5 lofted the heavyweight THAICOM 4 (IPSTAR) satellite from the Spaceport, and a Soyuz launcher was used to orbit the Galaxy 14 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome.