Tag: Arianespace
-
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…
-
Powerful new European solid-fueled rocket motor aces first test-firing
European engineers test-fired the world’s most powerful present-day single-segment solid rocket booster Monday in French Guiana, clearing a major development hurdle for the Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers set for debuts in 2019 and 2020. Mounted on a test stand over a flame trench carved out of bedrock at the European-run spaceport in South America,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Spaceflight reserves two rideshare missions on Vega rocket
Artist’s concept of the Vega rocket’s Small Spacecraft Mission Service dispenser deploying multiple satellites in orbit. Credit: ESA Spaceflight Industries has booked reservations for two commercial rideshare missions on Arianespace’s Vega rocket, officials announced Tuesday, beginning with a proof-of-concept flight in early 2019 of a new Italian-built multi-payload dispenser tailored to accommodate small satellites and…
-
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.
-
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,…
-
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…