Tag: Airbus Defense and Space
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Launch timeline for Vega rocket’s flight with Sentinel 2B
Europe’s fifth Sentinel Earth observation satellite will ride a four-stage Vega rocket into polar orbit 488 miles (786 kilometers) above Earth to begin tracking changes in agriculture and forestry patterns and monitoring natural disasters. The ascent will take nearly an hour following launch from French Guiana at 0149:24 GMT March 7 (8:49:24 p.m. EST March 6). Credit: Arianespace T+00:00:00 – Liftoff The Vega rocket’s first stage P80 solid rocket motor ignites and powers the…
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OneWeb to break ground on Florida factory, merge with Intelsat
Artist’s concept of the OneWeb factory at Exploration Park, Florida. Credit: OneWeb Days before breaking ground on a new spacecraft assembly line near Cape Canaveral, OneWeb and Intelsat announced a proposed merger Tuesday that would couple a planned fleet of 900 broadband Internet satellites with a high-power communications network in geostationary orbit. The “share-to-share” merger,…
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Europe’s next Sentinel land imaging satellite mated to rocket booster
Ground crews have mounted the fully-fueled Sentinel 2B spacecraft, the next mission in Europe’s multibillion-dollar Copernicus Earth observation satellite fleet, on top of a Vega rocket inside a protective gantry on its launch pad in French Guiana for blastoff next month. The satellite was encapsulated inside the Vega rocket’s Swiss-made composite nose shroud Feb. 15,…
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Photos: On-time launch for first Ariane 5 flight of the year
Launching with two communications satellites to broadcast television to Brazilian homes and connect the islands of Indonesia, an Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from a space base at the northern edge of the Amazon jungle Tuesday, the first of seven planned flights by the European-built booster this year. The Ariane 5 ECA, towering 180 feet…
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Brazilian and Indonesian telecom satellites healthy after Ariane 5 launch
Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – OV A pair of commercial broadcast satellites on the way to parking spots high above Brazil and Indonesia are safely in orbit after blasting off Tuesday atop an Ariane 5 rocket. The powerful launcher, fitted with a hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 main engine and two side-mounted solid…
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Video: Ariane 5 darts through cloudy skies with Sky Brasil 1 and Telkom 3S
An Ariane 5 rocket climbed into space from French Guiana on Tuesday evening, hauling the Sky Brasil 1 and Telkom 3S communications satellites to orbit on the way to operating posts over Brazil and Indonesia. Firing into an overcast sky just before sunset, the 180-foot-tall (55-meter) Ariane 5 took off on 2.9 million pounds of…
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Photos: Ariane 5 rocket in position for first launch of 2017
A powerful Ariane 5 rocket rolled out of its vertical assembly hangar to a tropical launch pad on the shores of South America on Monday, and these photos show the booster on the eve of liftoff. Standing 180 feet (55 meters) tall, the Ariane 5 is scheduled for blastoff Tuesday with the Sky Brasil 1…
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Timeline for Ariane 5’s launch of Sky Brasil 1 and Telkom 3S
A commercial satellite to broadcast television programming to millions of homes in Brazil and a multipurpose communications craft to beam high-definition video and Internet signals across Indonesia are awaiting a half-hour ride into orbit on an Ariane 5 rocket Tuesday. Standing nearly 180 feet (55 meters) tall, the Ariane 5 is scheduled to lift off…
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Live coverage: European launcher heads to orbit from French Guiana
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the Sky Brasil 1 and Telkom 3S communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Arianespace’s live video stream begins at approximately 2120 GMT (4:20 p.m. EST). Please ensure your browser is…
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Ariane 5 launcher set for sunset blastoff Tuesday
The Ariane 5 rocket reaches the launch pad in French Guiana on Monday. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – G. Barbaste Two commercial communications satellites heading for orbits more than 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above Earth are scheduled for launch from a jungle launch facility in French Guiana at sunset Tuesday on…