Tag: Kourou
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Ariane 6 successfully launches on maiden flight from French Guiana
Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, has successfully launched on its maiden flight. Liftoff occurred one hour into a four-hour launch window on Tuesday, July 9, at 19:00 UTC. Ariane 6 launched from the Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-4 (ELA-4) launch pad at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The payload for this mission…
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ArianeGroup prepares to ship Ariane 6 maiden flight rocket to Kourou
The combined Ariane 6 launcher task force, consisting of ESA, CNES, and ArianeGroup, has reported on the progress of Ariane 6, the steps to launch, and the beginning of stage shipments to the launch site. The Canopée ship, which Ariane and ESA use to transport the massive rocket, will collect the first and second stages…
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ESA sets launch date for Ariane 6 for summer of 2024
The long-awaited maiden flight of Ariane 6 is scheduled to take place between June 15 and July 31, 2024, European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher announced at a press conference on Thursday. This followed a successful hot-fire test of the Vulcain 2.1 core stage engine of the new European launcher on its launch…
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Arianespace’s Vega launches 12 satellites on VV23 mission
Arianespace’s lightweight Vega rocket launched on its penultimate flight Sunday, carrying the THEOS-2 Earth-observation satellite for Thailand, Taiwan’s Triton (FORMOSAT-7R) weather satellite, and ten small satellites. Lifoff from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guiana came after a scrub 48 hours previously. The launch was only Arianespace’s third mission of 2023. Following the retirement…
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Ariane 6 debut slips to end of 2023, teams prep for Combined Test
The debut of Europe’s new heavy-lift launcher, Ariane 6, has slipped once again, this time to a no-earlier-than target of the “last quarter of 2023.” News of the delay came from ESA, CNES, ArianeGroup, and Arianespace officials during an Oct. 19 media briefing, though officials declined to define what caused the most recent multi-month delay…
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Ariane 5 launches advanced broadband satellite for Eutelsat
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket returned to action on September 7, deploying a high-power communications satellite for French operator Eutelsat. Liftoff from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guiana occurred on time at 6:45 PM local time (21:45 UTC) at the opening of an 86-minute launch window. Wednesday’s launch deployed Eutelsat Konnect VHTS — or…
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ESA launches upgraded Vega-C rocket on first mission
Vega-C, the newest iteration of the European Vega rocket, has launched on its debut flight, VV21. Vega-C boasts a higher payload capacity and lower cost per kilogram of payload than the original Vega rocket. As part of its first mission, the vehicle carried seven payloads from several European nations to a targetted 6,000 km medium…
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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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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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Arianespace Vega launches CERÉS satellites for CNES
Arianespace’s Vega rocket launched on its third mission of the year with the Capacité de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale (CERÉS) 1, 2, and 3 satellites for the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Vega lifted off on November 16, at 6:27 AM Kourou time (09:27 UTC). This mission was Vega’s 20th overall and Arianespace’s…