Ariane 5 launches for 100th time putting two comsats into orbit

by | Sep 26, 2018 | commercial launch services, Launches, Satellites, Seradata News

“Arianespace is delighted to announce that Horizons 3e and Azerspace 2/Intelsat 38 have been separated as planned in their targeted geostationary transfer orbit. For Ariane 5 mission No. 100, our heavyweight launcher has once more performed flawlessly. Congratulations to all,” said Stephane Israel, CEO of Arianespace.  This news release marked the success of the 100th flight of the Ariane 5 series. The Ariane 5 ECA launched from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana at 2238 GMT on 25 September 2018.

Still from TV footage of 100th launch of Ariane 5. Courtesy: Arianespace

The ESC-A upper stage shut down at 2303 GMT after a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit was achieved. The first satellite to be separated at 2306 GMT was the heavier of the pair, the 6,441 kg Horizons 3e spacecraft. which was built by Boeing. Horizons Satellite Holdings which owns the satellite is a joint venture between Intelsat and SKY Perfect JSAT of Tokyo. The Horizons 3e satellite will provide high-bandwidth Internet and other services over the Asia-Pacific.

This was followed by the Sylda payload adapter being ejected at circa 2313 GMT, and then the smaller  3,500 kg Azerspace 2/Intelsat 38 satellite was separated at 2320 GMT.

Azerspace 2/Intelsat 38 was built by SSL (the former Space Systems/Loral company) based in Palo Alto, California. The spacecraft is a joint program between Azercosmos — Azerbaijan’s national satellite operator — and Intelsat. It will provide direct-to-home broadcast services over parts of Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, and support government services over tropical Africa.

Comment by David Todd: Ariane 5 has been an excellent workhorse, and has proven very reliable. That is not to say that it will ever hit its “design” reliability target of 98.5 per cent. According to the Seradata SpaceTrak database, the Ariane 5 family has achieved 95 per cent on a “raw failure” basis (five failures out of 100 flights), and circa 97 per cent when the failures are corrected for actual severity/capability loss.

 

About Seradata

Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacechinavideoFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosevaspacewalkDGABlue Originaviation weekInternational Space StationRocket LabaresIGTsoyuzBeidouawardsStarlinkAirbus DSboeingspaceSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonOneWebISROCargo Return VehiclemarsblogresearchspaceshiptwoorionjaxamarsimpactEutelsatdelayhyperbolademocratrocketlunarhypertextthales alenia spaceSESobamagoogle lunar prizelaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresnorthspaceflightIntelsatnode 2fundedElon MuskLockheed MartinRaymond Lygo2009Express MD-2Atlas Vromedassault aviationss2sstl2008wk2aviationLucyradiouksuborbitalVirgin Orbittestmissiledocking portexplorationSLSAriane 5 ECAinternetLong March 2D/2China Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5Northrop GrummanElectronmissile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Long March 4CspaceportExpress AMU 1buildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1ashuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesAriane 6Intelsat 23space shuttleLauncherOneEuropean Space AgencyCosmoshanleybudgetrulesnew yorkLong March 2CInmarsatnew shepardVietnamatvshenzhoucongressMojaveboldenOrbital ATKcnesUS Air ForceGuiana Space Centerlunar landeriacApollolawsSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AkscElectron KSILSprotondarpalaunchesTalulah RileyVega CFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5North KoreaeuSkylonAstriumlanderbaseusaastronautdragonpicturefiveeventTelesatSpace InsuranceSSLViasatAprilSNC50thfalconWednesdaySea LaunchLong Marchinterviewcustomer

Stay Informed with Seradata

Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.