Tag: Arianespace
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Arianespace, ULA, Blue Origin discuss executing ambitious Kuiper constellation missions for Amazon
Amazon’s announcement of three launch contracts totaling 83 flights split across Ariane 6, Vulcan, and New Glenn represents the largest commercial launch block buy in history and will unite Arianespace, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin in a multi-year effort to deploy the Kuiper internet constellation. The contracts represent unique challenges to some providers and…
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Amazon reserves up to 83 rocket launches for Project Kuiper broadband satellite constellation
Amazon plans to have satellites sent into orbit by (from left) United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rockets, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets and Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rockets. (Amazon Illustration) Amazon has secured as many as 83 launches on three types of heavy-lift rockets to put more than 1,500 satellites into low Earth orbit for its…
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Arianespace begins its year with a OneWeb launch
Arianespace has launched its first mission of the year from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou. A Soyuz ST-B rocket is tasked with placing 34 OneWeb satellites in a 475-kilometer orbit around the Earth, following liftoff at 1:09 p.m. EST (18:09 UTC) on February 10, 2022. Following successful deployment in their parking orbit by the…
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Arianespace discusses Ariane 5 fly-out requirements, launcher’s legacy to Ariane 6 and beyond
Arianespace and their European partners are looking toward the final five flights of the veteran Ariane 5 rocket that has been a staple of the European launch community since the end-1990s. At present, the rocket has four dual-passenger flights to geostationary transfer orbit on the manifest in 2022 before its grand finale in 2023: the…
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James Webb Space Telescope fully deploys, Northrop Grumman marks sunshield success
At 18:17 UTC on January 8, 2022, the joint NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) successfully deployed the starboard wing of its massive 6.5-meter mirror — marking the end of the observatory’s intense and critical deployment sequence. The feat capped an impressive series of engineering accomplishments,…
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Soyuz 2.1b successfully launches 36 OneWeb Satellites
Starsem, Arianespace, and Roscosmos have launched a Soyuz 2.1b for OneWeb flight 12. Lift-off from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 13:10 UTC (08:10 EST) on December 27. Also known as ST-37 by both Arianespace and Starsem, the latter is a joint French-Russian company that commercializes Soyuz launches. This year, a…
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James Webb Space Telescope en route to L2; deployment sequence underway
Following a launch on December 25 atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket, the joint NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is currently traveling toward the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2), where it is expected to orbit and perform future science observations. Liftoff occurred at 12:20 UTC from the ELA-3 launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre…
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NASA, ESA, CSA successfully launch the historic James Webb Space Telescope
It is a mission more than 25 years in the making. The revolutionary JWST (James Webb Space Telescope)—a partnership between NASA, the ESA (European Space Agency), and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency)— has launched atop its Ariane 5 rocket from launchpad ELA-3 at the Guiana Space Centre in South America. Liftoff of James Webb occurred…
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Themis tanking test marks milestone in ESA’s path to reusability
The ESA (European Space Agency) has taken a major step towards developing reusable rockets with the completion of a series of tanking tests for its Themis vehicle, which will serve as a testbed for the agency to experiment with launch and landing operations. After initially announcing plans for a reusable rocket – Ariane Next –…
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Arianespace launches Soyuz ST-B with new batch of Galileo satellites
Arianespace has launched another two Galileo FOC (Full Operation Capability) global navigation satellites for Europe. Following a weather delay on Friday, the two satellites were launched by a Soyuz ST-B Fregat on the VS26 mission on Saturday. Liftoff occurred on December 4, 2021, at 21:19 Kourou time (Dec 5, 00:19 UTC; Dec 4, 7:19 pm…