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Arianespace Ready for Liftoff

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the anxiously-awaiting-the-space-elevator dept.

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."

7 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Been there, done that by amightywind · · Score: 3, Informative

    "only commercial vehicle that can launch two mainstream telecommunications satellite payloads on the same mission."

    The shuttle once launched 3 geosynchonous satellites in a single mission. This is not a big deal. I am surprised the moderators found it news worthy.

    --
    an ill wind that blows no good
    1. Re:Been there, done that by MurphyZero · · Score: 2, Informative

      US Space program (NASA) should be concerned with two things: Science missions (other planets, astronomy, Earth observation) which no one will or can make a buck on. How many and priority should be based on national desire (first is a function of budget, determined by Congress--second is function of NASA director, which is determined by President). The other is manned exploration. To be honest, this one is of limited value compared to the science missions. The new NASA direction may fix some of the negatives of the Shuttle, but the overlap period (fly out of shuttle and development of replacement) is critical and will probably be royally messed up.

      --
      Our founding fathers removed the guys in charge. Be American. Vote incumbents out.
  2. Launch Costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Aren't going to change if the same launch vehicles keep getting used. You need economies of scale to bring down costs, and the only ones who have accomplished that so far are the Russians (they've launched more than double the missions of all the other spacefaring countries combined). The only hope is with companies like Microcosm (www.smad.com) who are working diligently to develop low cost launch vehicles.....

  3. It's a question of size, not number by marsperson · · Score: 2, Informative

    A lot of people here are under the impression that this is the first launch vehicle to launch two satelites at a time, but it isn't. The key words here are "mmainstream telecommunications satellite payloads". Indeed, launching more than a single satelite per launch is more or less standard fare already. Probably what is new here, is the size and weight of each of the two satelites.

  4. Re:What about pollution? by marsperson · · Score: 2, Informative

    I see your point, but rockets being a lot rarer than cars, I would imagine they don't account for much pollution in the grand scheme of things.

  5. And that's why Europe uses Russian technology... by andersh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Your point is well taken - and that's why Europe has chosen to use Russian technology:
    ESA has entered into a 340 million euro joint venture with the Russian Federal Space Agency over the use of the Soyuz launcher. Under the agreement, the Russian agency will manufacture Soyuz rocket parts for ESA, which will then be shipped to French Guiana for assembly. ESA benefits because it gains a medium payloads launcher, complementing its fleet while saving on development costs. In addition, the Soyuz rocket -- which has been the Russian's space launch workhorse for some 40 years -- is proven technology with a good safety record, which ESA might be happy to use for launching humans into space.

    This cooperation is well on it's way - this week they used a Soyuz vehicle to launch the successfull ESA mission "Venus Express".

  6. The launch has been scrubbed for today by paper_boats · · Score: 4, Informative
    I'm sitting in Boeing's Mission Control Center right now. Latest news is that the launch has been cancelled for today, not sure when the next attempt will be.

    I certainly was surprised to see this show up on the front page of slashdot. It's not a super big deal that Ariane is launching two satellites at once, they have done that before. I guess the capacity has increased from the sounds of it? One of the satellites onboard (Spaceway F2) will be one of the largest commercial satellites ever launched. It's sister satellite, Spaceway F1, was launched last April and was successfully delivered to the DirecTV customer this fall. They are both about 6100 kg when fully loaded with fuel.

    Companies may be able to save some money by doing a dual-manifest launch but it can also be a real pain in the ass. This launch was originally supposed to happen in June but the other satellite had problems and had to get sent back to home base to be checked out thus delaying Spaceway F2 also. Plus when you get your own launcher you can have a lot more control over what orbit you are injected into and the launch window. Ariane provides a standard GTO injection with their ECA launcher, which is not the most desireable orbit for some satellites.