July 15, 2015

66th straight success for Ariane 5

Wednesday 15 July, Ariane 5 completed a flawless launch from Europe’s spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre, orbiting two satellites, Star One C4 for telecommunications operator Embratel Star One, and MSG-4, a weather satellite designed to monitor weather, climate and the environment for Eumetsat. The flight marked the European launcher’s 66th straight success since 2003.

With a launch mass of 5.5 tonnes, Star One C4 is a telecommunications satellite built by SpaceSystems Loral (SSL) for Embratel Star One, South America’s largest satellite operator. It will deliver telecommunications, broadcasting and Internet services to Brazil, western South America, Mexico, Central America and the continental United States. It has an expected service lifetime of 15 years.

With a launch mass of 2 tonnes, MSG-4 is the fourth and last Meteosat Second Generation satellite. Built by Thales Alenia Space for Eumetsat, it will enable immediate and very-short-term forecasting of severe weather events. It has an expected service lifetime of 7 years.

At the launch, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in accomplishing this latest successful launch. In addition to the satellite for Embratel, Ariane 5 today orbited MSG-4, a satellite that is going to prove crucially important in tackling the impacts of climate change in this year devoted to preserving the environment, with the COP21 climate conference to be held in Paris in December. I would also like to pay tribute to all of the teams to whom we owe this success, at ESA, Arianespace, across Europe’s space industry and at Eumetsat, and to CNES’s teams at the Launch Vehicles Directorate and the Guiana Space Centre for completing this third launch for Ariane 5 this year.”

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Contacts
Pascale Bresson    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39     pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Alain Delrieu    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 74 04    alain.delrieu@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37     julien.watelet@cnes.fr

cp142-2015_-_succesva224_va.pdf (pdf - 31.55 KB)
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