Tag: Ariane 5
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Photos: Ariane 5 rocket rolls to launch with four Galileo satellites
An Ariane 5 rocket emerged from its vertical assembly building Monday and rolled along dual rail tracks for a 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) journey to its launch pad at the Guiana Space Center on the northern coastline of South America, moving into position for blastoff Wednesday with four Galileo navigation satellites. The midday rollout Monday was powered…
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Arianespace aims for busy second half of 2018
The BepiColombo mission’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Mercury Transfer Module undergo electrical testing at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin Europe’s first mission to Mercury, a quartet of Galileo navigation spacecraft, a global winds observatory, and a new European weather satellite have arrived at an equatorial…
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Webb’s launch delayed to 2021 at an extra cost of nearly $1 billion
Artist’s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Northrop Grumman An independent panel has informed NASA that the James Webb Space Telescope will not be ready for launch until March 2021, and Congress will have to reauthorize the long-delayed, over-budget mission after breaching an $8 billion cost cap, officials said Wednesday. Blunders made by…
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JWST beset by another problem as Northrop Grumman revamps training
The telescope element of the Webb observatory was unpacked from its shipping container March 8 after arriving at Northrop Grumman’s factory in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Engineers working on the James Webb Space Telescope, which had its launch delayed to 2020 earlier this year, recently discovered another problem during testing at the observatory’s…
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Concerns with Indian satellite postpone next Ariane 5 launch
The GSAT 11 satellite arrived in French Guiana from India in late March. This photo shows the spacecraft in its shipping container during offloading from an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at Félix Eboué Airport in Cayenne, French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – H. Rouffie India’s most powerful communications satellite will…
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Ariane 5 returns with DSN-1/Superbird-8 and HYLAS 4 success
Following a launch pause of over two months, Ariane 5 returned to action on Thursday with the launch of DSN-1/Superbird-8 and HYLAS 4. Liftoff from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana was on schedule at the start of a 50 minute launch window that opened at 21:34 UTC. In what was the second Ariane…
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Live coverage: Ariane 5 lifts off on first flight since off-target launch
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the DSN 1/Superbird 8 and Hylas 4 communications satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Arianespace’s live video webcast will begin approximately 15 minutes before launch.
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Ariane 5 returns to service with dual-satellite launch
A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off Thursday from French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin Boosted by two solid-fueled motors and a hydrogen-burning main engine, a European Ariane 5 rocket took off Thursday from French Guiana with a Japanese military communications payload and a U.S.-built, British-owned broadband satellite,…
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Video: Ariane 5 rocket lifts off with communications satellites
Video credit: Arianespace A European Ariane 5 rocket climbed off its launch pad in French Guiana with nearly 3 million pounds of thrust Thursday, carrying two communications satellites to orbit for the Japanese military and British-based Avanti Communications. The nearly 180-foot-tall (55-meter) Ariane 5 launcher took off at 2134 GMT (5:34 p.m. EDT; 6:34…
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Webb telescope’s launch delayed until 2020
The James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror and instrument section, known as the Optical Telescope element and Integrated Science (OTIS) module, is unpacked from its shipping container after arriving at Northrop Grumman’s satellite factory in Redondo Beach, California, earlier this year. JWST’s sunshield is visible at left. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Blaming a slew of technical snags…