May 21, 2011 11:05 GMT  ·  By

Officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) announce that the organization managed to launch an Ariane 5 heavy-lift delivery system on May 20. Take-off took place from the Kourou Spaceport, which the agency operates in the French Guiana, South America.

This is the third successful launch for the Ariane 5 rocket this year. The delivery system has a tremendous track record, with only two partial failures clouding its streak of successes. The new flight was carried out in order to deliver two satellites in space.

The ST-2 and GSAT-8 telecommunications spacecraft were delivered effortlessly to their planned transfer orbits. The rocket launched on its 58th mission at 22:38 CEST (2038 GMT, 17:38 French Guiana time).

This highly-successful launch platform is constructed by French company Arianespace, one of the pioneers in this domain. The rocket guarantees the successful delivery of payloads to orbit for a price that is completely justified by its performances.

For example, the target injection orbit for these two new satellite had a perigee of around 250 kilometers, with an apogee of 35,947 kilometers, and an inclination of 2.5 degrees, ESA reports.

The necessary altitude parameters were reached after 27 and 31 minutes of flight, for each of the two spacecraft. ST-2 is destined for an orbit at 88 degrees longitude east above the Equator.

This will ensure it has the optimum position to deliver its Internet-based fixed and mobile, voice and data transmission satellite services. Direct broadcast TV operators and maritime companies in Asia and the Middle East are the main beneficiaries of its capabilities.

Its travel companion, GSAT-8, will cover the Indian subcontinent, where it will boost existing direct-to-home TV broadcast and radionavigation services capabilities. Taken together, the satellites weighed around 8,190 kilograms.

“The Ariane 5’s cryogenic, liquid-propellant main engine was ignited first. Seven seconds later, the solid-propellant boosters also fired, and the vehicle lifted off a fraction of a second later,” an ESA press release reads.

“The solid boosters were jettisoned 2 min 21 sec after main engine ignition, and the fairing protecting the payload during the climb through Earth’s atmosphere was discarded at 3 min 09 sec,” it adds.

“The launcher’s main engine was shut down at 8 min 54 sec; six seconds later, the main cryogenic stage separated from the upper stage and its payload,” the release concludes.