Arianespace Adds Another Accomplishment — Ariane 5 Aloft

Arianespace successfully launched telecommunications satellites for Brazil and Vietnam on the company’s 24th consecutive mission success of Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA deployed Star One C2 and VINASAT-1 into geostationary transfer orbit during a 31-minute mission, which began with an on-time liftoff from the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch zone at 7:17 p.m. local time, last Friday. This is the second of seven flights planned in 2008 with the workhorse Ariane 5 as Arianespace delivers on its Service & Solutions commitment to the company’s international customers. Star One C2 rode as the upper passenger in Ariane 5’s payload “stack,” and was deployed approximately 26 minutes after liftoff. Built by Europe’s Thales Alenia Space, the 4,100-kg. spacecraft will be used by Brazilian telecommunications operator Star One. Star One C2 carries a payload of 28 C-band transponders, 16 Ku-band transponders and 1 X-band transponder, and will provide telecommunications, multimedia and Internet services over South America from an orbital position of 70° W.

VINASAT-1 was the lower passenger on Ariane 5, with its deployment occurring 31 minutes into the mission. Manufactured in the U.S. by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, it will become Vietnam’s first telecommunications satellite and will be operated by the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group. Arianespace’s live launch broadcast was shown at an event in Hanoi, which was attended by more than 150 government officials, including Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, along with representatives from the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and its customers. The 2,600-kg. VINASAT-1 is configured with a payload of 12 Ku-band and 8 C-band transponders for radio, television and telephone transmission services over all of Vietnam and the Asia Pacific region. VINASAT-1’s final geostationary orbit position will be 132° E. This was the 39th Lockheed Martin spacecraft to be launched by Arianespace, while Star One C2 was the eighth Brazilian satellite and the 52nd Thales Alenia Space platform to use an Ariane vehicle. The next Arianespace event will occur on April 27th with a flight performed by Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This mission will use a Soyuz launcher to orbit the European GIOVE-B navigation satellite.