On Friday, May 21, Arianespace placed two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: the ASTRA 3B commercial communications satellite for the Luxembourg-based operator SES ASTRA, and the COMSATBw-2 military communications satellite built by Astrium for the German Ministry of Defense.
ARIANE V199 LAUNCH KIT • READ (PDF) FREE VIDEO ARIANE LIFTS OFF WITH COMSATBW-2 AND ASTRA 3B • WATCH | DOWNLOAD The mission was carried out by an Ariane 5 ECA launcher from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff was on Friday, May 21, 2010 at 6:01 pm EDT. This was the 50th launch of an Ariane 5 and the 36th successful launch in a row. Today’s launch had previously been postponed, and Le Gall thanked all who contributed to resolving the technical issues that were encountered. “This flight is the 40th Ariane 5 launch since I joined Arianespace, and more than anyone, I fully appreciate what we owe all of you,” Le Gall added. “I particularly want to thank you for the work performed during the past several weeks, which enabled us to succeed with this superb launch.” COMSATBw-2 is the 34th military payload to use the European launcher. Astrium chose Arianespace for the launch of two military communications satellites, COMSATBw-1, orbited in October 2009, and COMSATBw-2, as part of a satellite communications system set up by the German Ministry of Defense. ASTRA 3B was released first into geostationary transfer orbit, being separated from the upper passenger position of Ariane 5’s dual payload “stack” at approximately 27 minutes into the flight. The satellite was produced for SES ASTRA by EADS Astrium, and it had an estimated liftoff mass of 5,470 kg. Configured with 60 Ku-band transponders and four Ka-band transponders, ASTRA 3B was the 10th satellite orbited by Arianespace for SES ASTRA, and the 33rd for the SES group – one of the world’s leading providers of satellite transmission capacity. ASTRA 3B will be located at 23.5 degrees East, which is ASTRA's orbital position for delivering Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcast services to Benelux and Eastern European countries, and this location also will serve public and private satellite communication networks across Europe and the Middle East. The COMSATBw-2 lower passenger on Ariane 5 was deployed at approximately 33 min. into the flight. This 2,440-kg. satellite was designed, integrated and tested by Thales Alenia Space on behalf of EADS Astrium – the program’s space segment prime contractor – and it was the 34th military satellite orbited by Arianespace. COMSATBw-2 will operate from an orbital position of 13.2 deg. East, providing secure broadband network for uninterrupted communications between the German government, military authorities and armed forces deployed around the world. It is equipped with four SHF-band transponders and five UHF-band transponders, and will join COMSATBw-1 – orbited last October by another Ariane 5. ASTRA 3B was built by Astrium using a Eurostar 3000M platform, and weighed 5,500 kg at launch. Fitted with 60 active Ku-band transponders and four Ka-band transponders, ASTRA 3B will be positioned at 23.5 degrees East. It will deliver high-power broadcast services across all of Europe, and offers a design life of about 15 years. COMSATBw-2 weighed 2,500 kg at launch and offers a design life of 15 years. Its coverage zone extends from the Americas to the Far East, and it will be operated from different sites by German aerospace agency DLR. German armed forces will take advantage of a secure network for voice, data, fax, video and multimedia transmissions. Astrium is in charge of the space segment, including in-orbit delivery of the satellite. Thales Alenia Space designed, manufactured, integrated and tested the satellite, which it delivered before launch to Astrium. Most of the payload for the satellite was produced by Tesat, Astrium’s German subsidiary. Through the joint venture Milsat Services, Astrium is also responsible for the satellite communications contract.
(Above: Photo Credit: CNES / Arianespace)
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