Ariane flight VA253

Ariane flight VA253 (French: vol Ariane VA253) was a successful rocket launch conducted by multinational launch service provider Arianespace on August 15th, 2020.[1]

Ariane flight VA253
Ariane 5 ECA launch
Launch15 August 2020, 22:04:00 UTC
OperatorArianespace
PadKourou, ELA-3
Payload
Ariane launches

Payload

American satellite operator Intelsat and Japanese Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT) are the customers for Ariane flight VA253.[2][3]

Galaxy 30 is a communications satellite built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (formerly Orbital ATK) on the GEOStar-2 platform for Intelsat. It has C-band, Ku-band, Ka-band payloads, as well as a WAAS payload for a mass of 3,325 kilograms (7,330 lb).[4] Built in satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia, it will primarily serve video markets in North America.[5] As per Intelsat/Arianespace contract announced in January 2018,[6]

Galaxy 30 will share the upper berth of the Ariane 5 ECA rocket with MEV-2, which is Northrop Grumman second satellite servicing vehicle, identical to MEV-1. With a mass of 2,326 kilograms (5,128 lb), it will begin a five-year mission to extend lifetime of Intelsat 10-02.[7] MEV-2 received FCC authorization on 25 March 2020.[8]

BSAT-4b is the second communications satellite of the fourth generation B-SAT, built by SSL (company) on its SSL 1300 platform. It has 24 Ku-band transponders and mass of 3,520 kilograms (7,760 lb).[9]

Flight

Ariane flight VA253 was planned to launch in June 2020,[10] however, launch campaign activities were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent the spread of the epidemic in French Guiana and protect Centre Spatial Guyanais employees, all launch activities were suspended on 16 March 2020.[11][12][13] Operations for Vega flight VV16 and Ariane 5 flight VA253 could not resume until 28 April 2020.[14][15][16] VA253 activities were listed among the top priorities at the reopening of the Guiana Space Center on 11 May 2020.[17] The launch is scheduled for end of July 2020.[15][18][19] The flight should place the satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit from which they will eventually be placed into geostationary orbit through their own propulsion. The flight was again aborted on 28 July 2020, due to a "red" warning in the system, resulting from a sensor problem related to LH2 tank on the core stage. The flight was launched on 15 August 2020 at 22:04 UTC.[1]

See also

Footnotes

Sources

  1. "Intelsat signs contract with Arianespace for two launches". arianespace.com. 9 January 2018. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Forrester, Chris (17 March 2020). "Arianespace ceases launches from French Guiana". advanced-television.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Forrester, Chris (1 May 2020). "Arianespace getting back to work". advanced-television.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Kanayama, Lee (29 April 2020). "Arianespace set the dates for its return to action". NASA Spaceflight.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Henry, Caleb (29 April 2020). "Guiana Space Center launches to resume in June". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "COVID-19 / Suspension des campagnes de lancement au Centre Spatial Guyanais" (PDF) (in French). Arianespace. 16 March 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "Epidémie de COVID-19 / Plan de continuité d'activité au CNES" (PDF) (in French). CNES. 16 March 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "COVID-19 CNES helping to combat the epidemic and sustain the nation's economic activity" (PDF). CNES. 23 March 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "Resumption of launch campaign operations and construction of Ariane 6 ELA4 launch complex at Guiana Space Centre" (PDF). CNES. 28 April 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "Nationwide lifting of lockdown begins - Phased resumption of on-site operations at CNES's four centres" (PDF). CNES. 11 May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  1. "COVID-19: Arianespace to resume its launch campaigns at the Guiana Space Center". Arianespace. 29 April 2020. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Krebs, Gunter Dirk (27 March 2020). "Galaxy 30". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Krebs, Gunter Dirk (15 March 2020). "BSat 4a, 4b". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 15 March 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. Krebs, Gunter Dirk (16 March 2020). "MEV 1, 2". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "Galaxy 30" (PDF). Northrop Grumman. 12 January 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  1. "SAT-LOA-20191210-00144". FCC. 26 March 2020. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Citations

  1. "Debuting upgrades, Ariane 5 rocket deploys three U.S.-built satellites in orbit". Spaceflight Now. 15 August 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. Forrester, May 1, 2020, "The next commercial geostationary launch is for Galaxy 30 (3325 kg) for Intelsat on flight VA253 which has two important co-passengers. The first is a slightly larger satellite for Japan's BSat4B (3520 kg). But of perhaps extra importance is the second "space tug" for Northrop Grumman and its rescue craft MEV-2".
  3. Kanayama 2020, "The next mission for Arianespace after VV16 is VA253 with the Ariane 5 rocket. It will carry the Galaxy-30, MEV-2, and the BSat-4B satellites".
  4. Krebs, Galaxy 30 2020, "Intelsat awarded in January 2018 a contract to build the Galaxy 30 Ku- and Ka-band communications satellite to Orbital ATK, now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS). This satellite will be based on the flight-proven GEOStar-2 platform".
  5. Northrop Grumman, Galaxy 30, 2020, "The satellite will be designed, built and tested at Northrop Grumman's state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia, and will primarily serve video markets in North America".
  6. Arianespace, January 9, 2018, "The first launch will carry the Galaxy 30 satellite together with the Orbital ATK Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) as a stacked pair".
  7. Krebs, MEV 1, 2 2020, "A second MEV was ordered for Intelsat in January 2018. MEV-2 is expected to be in service by mid-2020 on a five-year mission [...] MEV-2 will share the upper berth of an Ariane-5ECA+ rocket with Galaxy 30 [...]. The initial mission of MEV-2 is to extend the life of Intelsat 10-02".
  8. FCC, MEV-2, 2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. Krebs, BSat 4a, 4b 2020, "BSAT-4a will have 24 Ku-band transponders and will expand the availability of advanced television services such as high definition and 4K/8K ultra-high definition television. BSAT-4a is based on the highly reliable SSL-1300 platform"
  10. Forrester, March 17, 2020, "The next scheduled commercial launches include a Galaxy 30 satellite (for Intelsat) and BSAT-4b (for Japanese satellite operator BSAT) which were scheduled for launch together in June"
  11. Arianespace, March 16, 2020, "Face à l'épidémie de Covid-19 et pour mettre pleinement en œuvre les mesures décidées par le gouvernement français, les campagnes de lancement en cours au Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) sont suspendues".
  12. CNES, March 16, 2020, "Au Centre Spatial Guyanais, suspension des campagnes de lancement, mise et maintien en sécurité des moyens opérationnels de la base, des lanceurs et des satellites en attente de lancement".
  13. CNES, March 23, 2020, "All launch preparations have been suspended due to the potential uncertainty and danger of the health situation at a time when great care needs to be taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic in French Guiana".
  14. CNES, April 28, 2020, "Operations to ready for Vega flight VV16 and Ariane 5 flight VA253 have resumed. Teams stationed permanently in French Guiana have been working to restore the base to its operational configuration since 21 April, applying the necessary distancing and transmission reduction measures."
  15. Arianespace, April 29, 2020, "Following the measures presented by the French government on 28 April 2020 as part of the gradual resumption of activity planned from 11 May 2020, and the announcement of a restart of operational activities at the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace confirms its following launch objectives: [...] Flight VA253 – A dual-payload Ariane 5 mission for two customers, Intelsat and B-SAT, at the end of July 2020".
  16. Henry 2020, "The reopening of the Guiana Space Centre, which suspended operations in mid-March as part of France's effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to allow Arianespace to resume satellite launches from there by mid-June."
  17. CNES, May 11, 2020, "Priority projects and operations that will be resuming on site at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) are: the Vega VV16 and Ariane VA253 launch campaigns and the arrival of teams who will be observing a strict 14-day quarantine from 11 and 25 May respectively".
  18. Forrester, May 1, 2020, "These will be launched on a single Ariane 5 rocket currently scheduled for the end of July".
  19. Kanayama 2020, "VA253 is set to launch at the end of July".
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