Two Telecom Satellites Launched in Latest Ariane 5 Mission

Europe’s Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites, SES-17 and Syracuse-4A, into their planned orbits.

“For this launch, we increased the Ariane 5 fairing volume by attaching a 1.5 m raising cylinder to accommodate these two very large, stacked satellites. The development and qualification of this adaptation was funded by ESA. Today's launch of 11.2 t to geostationary transfer orbit is a record performance for Ariane 5.”

Daniel de Chambure, ESA’s Acting Head of Ariane 5 adaptation and future missions.

Arianespace announced liftoff at 03:10 BST (04:10 CEST, 23:10 local time on October 23) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, for a mission lasting about 38 minutes.

“For this launch, we increased the Ariane 5 fairing volume by attaching a 1.5 m raising cylinder to accommodate these two very large, stacked satellites. The development and qualification of this adaptation was funded by ESA. Today's launch of 11.2 t to geostationary transfer orbit is a record performance for Ariane 5,” said Daniel de Chambure, ESA’s Acting Head of Ariane 5 adaptation and future missions.

SES-17, with a launch mass of 14,134 pounds, in the upper berth of the fairing was released first.

Following a series of burns controlled by Ariane’s computer, the Sylda structure encasing the 8,500 pounds Syracuse-4A payload was jettisoned. Syracuse-4A was released about two minutes later towards its own geostationary transfer orbit.

SES-17 is owned and operated by SES. It will deliver broadband coverage over the Americas, the Caribbean and over the Atlantic Ocean and is optimised for commercial aviation.

Syracuse-4A, for France’s DGA (Direction générale de l’armement) defence procurement agency, will provide secure communications between deployed armed forces and will also support NATO and European-led operations.

The two telecom satellites have a design life of about 15 years.

“This was an exceptional launch for Thales Alenia Space because we built both of the satellites orbited today by Ariane 5,” said Hervé Derrey, President and CEO of Thales Alenia Space. “These two jewels of technology were carefully designed, developed, produced and tested over several years, and are now headed towards their respective positions in geostationary orbit.”

The performance requested for this Ariane launch was just under 25,000 pounds. The two satellites totalled about 22,630 pounds, with payload adapters and carrying structures making up the rest.

“Ariane 5 demonstrates continuous improvement with each launch. The success today of launch VA255 and the success of VA254 last July were crucial to move towards Ariane 5’s December launch carrying the James Webb Space Telescope,” commented Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA Director of Space Transportation.

Flight VA255 was the 111th Ariane 5 mission.

(Image provided with ESA news release. Additional information from Thales Alenia Space news release)