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Designed to place payloads weighing up to 9.6 tonnes into GTO, this increased capacity allows the Ariane 5 ECA to handle dual launches of very large satellites.<\/p>\n
Given Arianespace now enjoys a full family of launch vehicles \u2013 following the introduction of the Soyuz and Vega rockets at the Spaceport \u2013 the company adopted a new numbering system to identify its missions with these three vehicles.<\/p>\n
As such, Ariane 5 flights carry the \u201cVA\u201d designation, followed by the flight number. The \u201cV\u201d stands for \u201cvol\u201d, the French word for \u201cflight\u201d, while the \u201cA\u201d represents the use of an Ariane launch vehicle.<\/p>\n
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With the introduction of Soyuz at the Spaceport in 2011, Arianespace missions from South America with the medium-lift workhorse launcher are being designated \u201cVS\u201d, while flights with the lightweight Vega vehicle are referenced as \u201cVV\u201d, following its successful debut in 2012.<\/p>\n
Notably, the future of the Soyuz with Arianespace is now somewhat in doubt, following the issue with the recently launch of two Galileo satellites that were deployed into the wrong orbit.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s mission \u2013 designated Flight VA218 in the company\u2019s numbering system \u2013 was the fourth Ariane 5 liftoff from the Spaceport this year and the 75th launch of this heavy-lift workhorse, which has performed 60 successful flights in a row.<\/p>\n
![\"2014-09-11](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-09-11-20_51_33-LIVE_-Ariane-5-VA218-Optus-10-and-MEASAT-3b-11th-of-September-2014-350x249.jpg\")
Total payload performance for Flight VA218 was estimated at nearly 10,090 kg., which included approximately 9,160 kg. for MEASAT-3b and Optus 10 combined, plus Ariane 5\u2019s SYLDA dispenser system and satellite integration hardware.<\/p>\nMEASAT-3b is equipped with 48 high-power Ku-band transponders to expand direct-to-home broadcasting and VSAT (very small aperture terminal) services across Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Australia.<\/p>\n
Operated by MEASAT \u2013 a Malaysian-based premium supplier of satellite relay services to international broadcasters, direct-to-home platforms and telecom operators \u2013 MEASAT-3b will be co-located at the 91.5 deg. East orbital position along with the MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a satellites.<\/p>\n
\u201cMEASAT-3b was initiated in June 2011. This spacecraft, Malaysia\u2019s largest and most advanced to date, is the result of more than three year\u2019s cooperation between MEASAT, Airbus Defence and Space, the satellite manufacturer, and Arianespace, the satellite launch service provider,\u201d said Paul Brown-Kenyon, Chief Executive Officer, MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd \u2013 ahead of the mission.<\/p>\n
![\"2014-09-11](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-09-11-20_52_39-LIVE_-Ariane-5-VA218-Optus-10-and-MEASAT-3b-11th-of-September-2014-350x235.jpg\")
\u201cWe look forward to a successful launch.\u201d<\/p>\nThe MEASAT fleet includes the state-of-the-art MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a satellites at 91.5 degrees E supporting Asia\u2019s premium DTH and video distribution neighborhood; MEASAT-2 at 148.0 degrees E; and, MEASAT-5 at 119.5 degrees E.<\/p>\n
In Africa, the AFRICASAT-1a satellite at 46.0 degrees E provides satellite capacity across the African continent with connectivity to Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia.<\/p>\n
The MEASAT fleet will be further strengthened with the addition of MEASAT-3b, and MEASAT-3c \u2013 which is due to be launched in 2015.<\/p>\n
![\"2014-09-11](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-09-11-20_50_32-LIVE_-Ariane-5-VA218-Optus-10-and-MEASAT-3b-11th-of-September-2014-350x257.jpg\")
Optus 10 was built by SSL (Space Systems\/Loral) for Australian telecommunications service provider Optus. Problems with the satellite ultimately caused a delay to the launch date target.<\/p>\nThis satellite is outfitted with 24 Ku-band transponders to provide direct TV broadcast, internet connectivity, telephone and data transmission services for Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Optus 10 was the sixth satellite launched by Arianespace for Optus.<\/p>\n
MEASAT-3b was released first into geostationary transfer orbit, followed by separation of the SYLDA dispenser \u2013 enabling Optus 10\u2019s subsequent deployment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Ariane 5 ECA has successfully launched two telecommunication satellites on Thursday. Optus 10 and MEASAT-3b both rode uphill on the Arianespace workhorse out of the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, following lift off late in the launch window \u2013 due to two technical holds \u2013 at 22:05 GMT. Ariane 5 Mission: The Ariane 5 ECA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30008,"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":[],"class_list":["post-39507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39507"}],"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=39507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}