Ariane’s triple launch ready
July 31, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Arianespace says it has given the green light for the launch of three satellites.
Arianespace carried out its regular ‘launch readiness review’ on July 30th, and in preparation for a launch on July 31st during a 46-minute launch window opening at 6:30pm local time in French Guiana.
Arianespace confirmed that the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and its three passengers – Intelsat’s Galaxy 30 (G-30), the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) and Japan’s BSAT-4b – are flight-ready, along with the Spaceport’s infrastructure and the network of downrange tracking stations.
Ariane 5 will deliver a total payload lift performance of approximately 10,468 kgs on the mission to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), which is designated Flight VA253. This total factors in the three passengers, plus the workhorse vehicle’s multi-payload deployment system and integration hardware.
G-30 and MEV-2 – both produced by Northrop Grumman to serve the operational needs of Intelsat – are stacked together in the upper position of Ariane 5’s payload configuration. G-30 will be deployed first during the 47-minute flight sequence, followed by MEV-2.
To be released last as the mission’s lower passenger, BSAT-4b is being launched by Arianespace as part of a turnkey contract between the Japanese operator B-SAT and the satellite manufacturer, Maxar.