The heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA's on-time liftoff occurred at 5:44 p.m. local time in French Guiana, and provided a daytime view of the vehicle's trajectory as it headed downrange from the Spaceport. Superbird-7 rode in the upper position of Ariane 5's dual payload "stack" and was released first during the half-hour mission, obtaining separation 26 minutes into the flight. The spacecraft was orbited by Arianespace for Japanese operator Space Communications Corporation (SCC) in the framework of a contract with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Once positioned at its orbital slot of 144° E, Superbird-7 will succeed SCC's current Superbird-C satellite and is designed to provide a wide range of Ku-band telecommunications services with enhanced performance. Superbird-7 is based on the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation's DS2000 satellite platform, and it had a liftoff mass of 4,820 kg.
Satnews Daily
August 15th, 2008
Superbird-7 + AMC-21 Up, Up & Away To Orbital Slots
The heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA's on-time liftoff occurred at 5:44 p.m. local time in French Guiana, and provided a daytime view of the vehicle's trajectory as it headed downrange from the Spaceport. Superbird-7 rode in the upper position of Ariane 5's dual payload "stack" and was released first during the half-hour mission, obtaining separation 26 minutes into the flight. The spacecraft was orbited by Arianespace for Japanese operator Space Communications Corporation (SCC) in the framework of a contract with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Once positioned at its orbital slot of 144° E, Superbird-7 will succeed SCC's current Superbird-C satellite and is designed to provide a wide range of Ku-band telecommunications services with enhanced performance. Superbird-7 is based on the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation's DS2000 satellite platform, and it had a liftoff mass of 4,820 kg.