14 DAY TRIAL // French company Arianespace managed to launch another Ariane 5 delivery system recently, making this the company fourth launch for 2011. The flight again underlined the excellent track record the company has in this sector, and shows why it's a global leader in satellite services.
Arianespace was founded in 1980, and has since grown extensively. Currently, it holds more than 50 percent of the entire world's market for boosting satellites to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
It was also the first corporation ever to be dedicate exclusively to commercial space transportation, and this is visible even today in the excellent track record the company keeps. The Ariane 5 rockets it manufactures experienced only 2 failures and 2 partial failures in 59 launches. The latest launch took place from the French Guiana spaceport the European Space Agency (ESA) operates at Kourou. Arianespace has numerous facilities at that location, as well as at least two launch pads that it uses for launching its rockets.
Recently, the company took control of a new pad developed by ESA in partnership with the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos). The installation was developed in order to launch Russian-built Soyuz-Fregat rockets from South America.
The last Ariane 5 to launch carried two commercial relay satellites, whose goal is to provide access to direct TV broadcasting services to a number of station around the world. The spacecraft are called ASTRA 1N and BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R, respectively.
With a combined mass of 8,240 kilograms, the vehicles made up the bulk of the latest Ariane 5's cargo. An additional 855 kilograms were accounted for by the rocket's dual-payload dispenser system and associated integration hardware, Space Fellowship reports.
ASTRA 1N was the 11th satellite Ariane space launched for SES ASTRA, and the 34th launched for the SES group. The GTO in which the spacecraft was inject has an inclination of 2.01 degrees, and a perigee of 249.7 kilometers. ASTRA 1N was built by EADS Astrium.
BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems. The American company developed the satellite for the B-SAT Corporation and the SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, which are both based in Japan.
“Since the beginning of this year, we have launched an Automated Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station, six telecommunications satellites, and six constellation satellites,” Jean-Yves Le Gall says. The official is the Chairman and CEO of Arianespace.
“It shows that Arianespace leads the pack once again this year, as – since the beginning of 2011 – only two other satellites have been launched by our competitors; and one of those, to our knowledge, did not arrive intact in orbit,” he adds.
“And the successes will continue, as we still have in our order book no less than 18 Ariane 5 launches, to which are added 17 launches of Soyuz and the future missions with Vega,” Le Gall concludes.