Two Satellites Delivered Into Orbit By Ariane 5 Booster

Arianespace wrapped up another year of on-target launches with a dual-passenger mission today that orbited telecommunications satellites for Brazil and Japan – with both of these spacecraft produced by a U.S. satellite manufacturer.

The seventh flight of Arianespace’s Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle in 2016 – and the company’s 11th overall this year with its launcher family – lofted the Star One D1 relay platform, to be operated by Brazil’s Embratel Star One; along with JCSAT-15 for utilization by Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corp.

“With Star One D1, Arianespace has launched all Embratel Star One satellites since 1985 – amounting to 11 birds, and it’s been only a year since we launched Embratel’s Star One C4,” said Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël. “Another special partner, SKY Perfect JSAT, entrusted its 19th satellite to Arianespace since our launch of the JCSAT-1 in 1989. We have one more SKY Perfect JSAT satellite in our backlog, and we are looking for further opportunities!”

Both satellites carried on the latest Ariane 5 mission – designated VA234 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system – were produced in Palo Alto, California by Space Systems Loral (SSL) using the company’s SSL 1300 platform.

“With today’s flight, Arianespace has launched a total of 11 SSL-built telecom and Earth observation satellites this year, including two SSL-dedicated Ariane 5 missions,” Israël added in remarks from the Spaceport. “We now have two more SSL geostationary orbit communication satellites in our backlog.”

The double mission marked the second time in 2016 that Arianespace orbited a pair of SSL-built satellites on the same Ariane 5. In addition to the use of heavy-lift Ariane 5s in orbiting telecommunications relay platforms built by SSL, four of the company-manufactured Earth observation satellites were lofted by Arianespace by its lightweight Vega in September for American operator Terra Bella.

Looking ahead to 2017, Arianespace’s next launch is set for the end of January with a Soyuz flight to orbit the Hispasat 36W-1 telecommunications satellite.

(Image provided with Arianespace news release)

FMI: www.arianespace.com