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Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Mar 29, 2011 Arianespace's second Ariane 5 mission of 2011 has been given the green light for its March 30 liftoff with the Yahsat Y1A and Intelsat New Dawn satellites, clearing the way for this heavy-lift vehicle's rollout tomorrow (March 29) to the Spaceport's ELA-3 launch zone in French Guiana. The authorization was granted following the completion of today's launch readiness review - a milestone before every flight that validates the "go" status of the Ariane 5, its dual satellite payload, the Spaceport's infrastructure and the network of tracking stations. For this dual-payload mission, Ariane 5 will deploy the Yahsat Y1A and Intelsat New Dawn satellites during a flight lasting 35 minutes. It will be the 57th launch of an Ariane 5, with a total lift performance of nearly 10,065 kg. - which includes the combined 8,965 kg. liftoff mass of the two spacecraft passengers, along with the SYLDA dual payload dispenser and integration hardware. To be released first during this mission will be the 5,935-kg. Yahsat Y1A, which was developed for the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company to provide customized relay services for government and commercial sectors in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Southwest Asia. Located in the upper position of Ariane 5's dual-passenger payload "stack," this spacecraft is based on Astrium's Eurostar E3000 platform, while its communications payload was supplied by Thales Alenia Space. Deployed from Ariane 5's lower payload slot will be Intelsat New Dawn, which is the first-ever African private sector communications satellite. Produced for a joint venture consortium led by Convergence Partners and Intelsat, the Orbital Sciences Corporation-built satellite was conceived to supply critical communications infrastructure for African customers - delivering wireless backhaul, broadband and media content. Once at its operational geostationary orbital position, the relay platform will be operated and marketed as part of Intelsat's global fleet. The March 30 mission with Yahsat Y1A and Intelsat New Dawn is one of Arianespace's six Ariane 5 flights planned for 2011, along with the first two launches of its medium-lift Soyuz, and the lightweight Vega's maiden flight - all from the Spaceport; as well as three Soyuz missions from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Arianespace is maintaining the company's launch pace to meet this goal, as two other mission campaigns currently are underway. At the Spaceport, another Ariane 5 is taking shape for a May mission with the ST-2 and GSAT-8 satellites, while preparations are underway for an Arianespace Soyuz mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with six second-generation Globalstar spacecraft.
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Another Ariane 5 Completes Its Initial Build-Up At The SpaceportKourou, French Guiana (SPX) Mar 28, 2011 Initial assembly has been completed for the Ariane 5 launcher that will orbit a dual-satellite payload of the ST-2 and GSAT-8 satellites on Arianespace's third heavy-lift mission of 2011 from the Spaceport in French Guiana. This build-up milestone occurred in the Launcher Integration Building with the incorporation of Ariane 5's ESC-A cryogenic upper stage and the vehicle equipment bay - w ... read more |
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