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Domain: arianespace.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to arianespace.com.
Stories · 9
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ESA Offering Prizes For First Radio Reception From Satellite (livejournal.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The European Space Agency education office set up a contest to receive the radio signals from their new Cubesat satellites: AAUSAT4, E-st@r-II or OUFTI-1. Prizes will be rewarded to those who receive the first signal (audio or waterfall) from TLM, packet or ham radio transponders. Even if you're not the first, any valid submission will be rewarded with a nice QSL card from ESA, reports one space site.
Arianespace's Soyuz is scheduled for liftoff on April 24 with a multi-mission satellite payload. Designated Flight VS14 in Arianespace's launcher family numbering system, the medium-lift Soyuz carries a mixed payload of the Sentinel-1B C-band radar observation platform, a trio of "Fly Your Satellite!" technology demonstrator CubeSats, and the Microscope scientific satellite. -
NASA's Space Launch System Searches For a Mission
schwit1 writes: Managers of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) are searching for a mission that they can propose and convince Congress to fund. "Once SLS is into the 2020s, the launch rate should see the rocket launching at least once per year, ramping up to a projected three times per year for the eventual Mars missions. However, the latter won’t be until the 2030s. With no missions manifested past the EM-2 flight, the undesirable question of just how 'slow' a launch rate would be viable for SLS and her workforce has now been asked." Meanwhile, two more Russian rocket engines were delivered yesterday, the first time that's happened since a Russian official threatened to cut off the supply. Another shipment of three engines is expected later this year. In Europe, Arianespace and the European Space Agency signed a contract today for the Ariane 5 rocket to launch 12 more of Europe’s Galileo GPS satellites on three launches. This situation really reminds me of the U.S. launch market in the 1990s, when Boeing and Lockheed Martin decided that, rather than compete with Russia and ESA for the launch market, they instead decided to rely entirely on U.S. government contracts, since those contracts didn’t really demand that they reduce their costs significantly to compete. -
Arianespace Ready for Liftoff
stuckinarut writes to tell us Arianespace is reporting that their newest Ariane dual-satellite ECA mission rolled out of the assembly building and is set for a launch today (Nov 12) at 2345 GMT. This flight is set to demonstrate the massive lift capacity of nearly 10,000 kg and is currently the "only commercial vehicle that can launch two mainstream telecommunications satellite payloads on the same mission." -
Boeing Successfully Launches Mammoth Delta-4 Heavy
nick-bts writes "CNN, the BBC and Space.com are reporting the first successful launch of the new Boeing Delta-4 Heavy, capable of lifting 23 tonnes into a low-Earth orbit (similar to the space shuttle). Personally I think the Ariane 5 and 'Satan' are way sexier..." -
Europe Heads for the Moon in July
Orlando writes "The BBC are reporting that Arianespace are all set for sending Smart1 to the Moon in July. The mission's primary objectives are testing planetary exploration technologies. This is particularly good news after the recent Arianne rocket explosion." China's also planning a moon mission. The U.S. is planning to sit around and watch. -
Final Mission for the Ariane-4 Successful
Neophytus writes "The BBC reports that the final mission of the Ariane-4 series of commercial rockets has been completed. First launched in 1988 they have since successfully completed 116 missions, the final lifting the Intelsat 907 communications satellite into geostationary orbit. About 5 launches of the Ariane-5 are planned this year, the first in March." -
Final Mission for the Ariane-4 Successful
Neophytus writes "The BBC reports that the final mission of the Ariane-4 series of commercial rockets has been completed. First launched in 1988 they have since successfully completed 116 missions, the final lifting the Intelsat 907 communications satellite into geostationary orbit. About 5 launches of the Ariane-5 are planned this year, the first in March." -
Two For The Sky: Satellites For HAM And You
MaggieL -- KB3DXS writes: "The amateur radio satellite Phase 3D (now officially AMSAT-Oscar 40 ) was launched [Wednesday] night on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is now safely in its intended original orbit. AO-40 is the culmination of a ten-year long project to orbit a sophisticated, highly programmable communications platform for amateur radio use. Over the next 270 days engines on board the satellite will gradually place it in its intended final orbit. I received some of the initial transmissions from the satellite this morning at my station ... this is *way* cool. Amateur radio is still thriving, despite fears among the old-school hams who think that the Internet has killed ham radio." Added to which, as btbuzzard advises, you can now get your very own personal communications satellite carried by a device which would have been a lot scarier launching 10 or so years ago. -
AMSAT Phase 3D Launch Set For Holloween
N2UX writes "The long awaited and much anticipated Amateur Radio Phase 3d satellite from AMSAT has been given a launch date of October 31. Space craft details are here"