{"id":16553,"date":"2015-02-17T00:25:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T16:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/arianespace-edges-out-spacex-to-launch-korean-satellites\/"},"modified":"2015-02-17T00:25:47","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T16:25:47","slug":"arianespace-edges-out-spacex-to-launch-korean-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/arianespace-edges-out-spacex-to-launch-korean-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"Arianespace edges out SpaceX to launch Korean satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An
An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off on Dec. 6, 2014, with two commercial satellites. Credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Photo Optique Video du CSG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two South Korean Earth-watching satellites will ride Ariane 5 rockets into orbit in 2018 and 2019 after Arianespace beat SpaceX in a competition to launch the spacecraft, Korean and Arianespace officials announced Friday.<\/p>\n

The GEO-Kompsat 2A and GEO-Kompsat 2B satellites will launch into geostationary transfer orbit on separate Ariane 5 flights with co-passenger payloads. The Ariane 5 typically hauls up two large satellites at a time.<\/p>\n

Arianespace signed the launch contract for the satellites Friday with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, South Korea\u2019s space agency.<\/p>\n

Korean officials weighed bids from Arianespace and SpaceX to launch the satellites, but ultimately selected the French launch provider for the job, according to a statement by South Korea\u2019s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.<\/p>\n

While noting that SpaceX\u2019s arrival on the market has \u201crevolutionized\u201d the commercial launch business, the ministry\u2019s statement singled out the Ariane 5 rocket\u2019s long record of success \u2014 47 straight successful launches for its Ariane 5 ECA rocket variant \u2014 as a strong point in a discussion of the government\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Responding to SpaceX\u2019s prices for its Falcon 9 rocket, Arianespace has instituted a discount for smaller satellites properly sized to ride in the lower position in the Ariane 5 launcher\u2019s dual-payload fairing.<\/p>\n

\u201cArianespace is extremely proud of its selection by the Korean space agency, KARI,\u201d said Stephane Israel, Arianespace\u2019s chairman and CEO, in a written statement. \u201cOur last launch for KARI occurred in 2010. Now, we have been chosen again by KARI to launch these two impressive meteorological observation missions. Contributing to Korean space achievements is a great honor for Arianespace. I would once again like to thank the Korea Aerospace Research Institute for selecting us. Arianespace will deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial terms for the launch contract were not released.<\/p>\n

Both satellites will be built by KARI in South Korea. Each spacecraft will weigh nearly 3,500 kilograms \u2014 about 7,700 pounds \u2014 with a full load of fuel for in-space maneuvers and is designed for a 10-year lifetime, according to KARI\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

After launching into initial egg-shaped transfer orbits, the satellites will position themselves in circular 22,300-mile-high orbits over the equator at 128.2 degrees east longitude.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s budget for the two satellites is 720 billion won, or about $650 million, according to the government\u2019s statement announcing the launch contract.<\/p>\n

\"geokompsat\"
Diagrams of GEO-Kompsat 2A and 2B. Credit: KARI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

GEO-Kompsat 2A weather satellite will launch in May 2018 from the Ariane 5\u2019s base in Kourou, French Guiana. The meteorological observatory will host an advanced camera and a space weather monitoring sensor, recording near-realtime imagery of storms, cyclones and weather systems to aid forecasters.<\/p>\n

Korean officials tasked U.S.-based ITT Exelis to build the spacecraft\u2019s primary imager. ITT Exelis will supply a camera similar to the next-generation Advanced Baseline Imager the company is building for NOAA\u2019s GOES-R series weather satellites.<\/p>\n

The first instrument in ITT Exelis\u2019s new line of weather camera launched on Japan\u2019s Himawari 8 weather satellite in October 2014.<\/p>\n

The launch of GEO-Kompsat 2B \u2014 an environmental satellite \u2014 will follow in March 2019. GEO-Kompsat 2B will carry two instruments to monitor air quality over the Asia-Pacific region and measure the color of sea water.<\/p>\n

The air quality sensor, made by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, will help warn of dangerous pollution, measure aerosols and ozone, and contribute to climate change research. It is similar to a NASA pollution monitor named TEMPO set for launch on a commercial communications satellite no sooner than 2017.<\/p>\n

The ocean color imager will helping scientists track the amount of chlorophyll in the water, differentiate plankton species, identify algae growths and determine fishing resources, according to Airbus Defense and Space, the instrument\u2019s manufacturer.<\/p>\n

An Ariane 5 rocket launched the Communication, Ocean and Meteorological, or COMS, satellite \u2014 South Korea\u2019s first national mission to geostationary orbit \u2014 in June 2010.<\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off on Dec. 6, 2014, with two commercial satellites. Credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Photo Optique Video du CSG Two South Korean Earth-watching satellites will ride Ariane 5 rockets into orbit in 2018 and 2019 after Arianespace beat SpaceX in a competition to launch the spacecraft, Korean and Arianespace officials announced Friday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1540,498,2813,2325,3335,193,316],"class_list":["post-16553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ariane-5","tag-arianespace","tag-geo-kompsat-2a","tag-geo-kompsat-2b","tag-kari","tag-south-korea","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}