Tag Archives: Arianespace

Arianespace’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle has successfully placed two telecommunications satellites into geostationary orbit: MEASAT-3d for the Malaysian operator MEASAT, and GSAT-24 built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on behalf of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), ArianeGroup said. The launch was the first mission of the year, and the 113th overall.

Japanese start-up ispace’s futuristic lunar lander is taking shape in ArianeGroup’s clean room after four years of the program’s launch. The project is scheduled to launch to the lunar surface at the end of this year. Under the agreement signed by the two companies, ArianeGroup supplies the components for the propulsion system.

Arianespace has been awarded a launch contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) on behalf of the European Commission, to launch Sentinel-1C in the first half of 2023 on Vega-C, Arianespace said. The 2.3-tonne satellite, will be deployed in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 690 km.

Amazon announced it signed launch service contracts with three commercial launch companies, ArianeSpace, Blue Origin and ULA (United Launch Alliance) for 83 launches altogether over a five year period.  Arianespace will perform 18 Ariane 6 launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper over a period of three years under the contract.

Space supplier RUAG Space has rebranded as Beyond Gravity to focus outward and position the space unit prominently on the markets, the company said. Beyond Gravity, which has around 1,600 employees, will launch an incubator in the summer to bring innovations to the market in cooperation with start-ups. 

Arianespace is strictly abiding by the sanctions decided by the international community (EU, USA and UK) following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company said. The operation of the Soyuz launcher from Europe’s Spaceport, French Guiana and from Baikonur, Kazakhstan through Starsem have been governed by the France-Russia inter-governmental, and the ESA–Roscosmos agreement. 

Flight VS27, deploying 34 OneWeb satellites, was Arianespace’s first mission of the year and the 340th for the Arianespace family comprising Ariane, Soyuz and Vega. The number of satellites in orbit in the OneWeb constellation is now 428. Soyuz, the medium-lift, four-stage launch vehicle carrying the spacecraft, was produced by Roscosmos’ Progress Space Rocket Center.

ESA and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) chose Arianespace to launch eight Galileo satellites to add to the constellation. The company will deploy the first two satellites this year, which will lead to the full operational capability of the Galileo open service. The three successive launches will be on board of Ariane 62 rockets in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 45th episode, a special, in our podcast series Space Cafe Podcast#045 Special: Peter Rumler, ESA, Launching James Webb Space Telescope. Episode 045 features a special guest Peter Rumler. Anyone who takes time for an interview just 40 minutes before the launch of the largest telescope of all time has a lot of nerve.

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket equipped with the Fregat upper stage is to launch 36 OneWeb communications satellites later today from the Baikonur spaceport, Roscosmos reported. The deployment of the new spacecraft will increase the number of satellites in the cluster to 394.