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Feature story

The SYLDA 5 payload dispenser's deployment is imaged during Ariane 5's most recent mission success

In the photo at left, SYLDA 5 is inspected on a ground-based fixture prior to its integration in Ariane 5’s payload stack for the May 14 mission.  The three images at right show the SLYDA 5 as it was viewed by the Herschel space telescope’s Visual Monitoring Camera, and are part of an animated sequence created by the European Space Agency.

May 26, 2009

A key element of Ariane 5’s dual payload deployment system was imaged in a unique series of in-flight photos taken by one of its two European-built passengers during the Arianespace launcher’s successful deep-space mission on May 14.

The SYLDA 5 dispenser was captured by the Herschel space telescope’s Visual Monitoring Camera at an altitude of more than 1,000 km. above Africa.

SYLDA 5 serves as the central element in Ariane 5’s dual payload “stack.”  On Arianespace’s May 14 mission, the 3,400-kg. Herschel spacecraft rode as the upper payload.  It was installed atop the SYLDA 5, which was positioned over the launcher’s lower payload – the 1,920-kg. Planck observatory. 

Herschel was deployed first during the flight sequence, separating from Ariane 5 at just under 26 minutes into the mission.  The SYLDA 5 was jettisoned 1 min. 22 sec. later, exposing Planck for its deployment at 28 min. 29 sec. into the flight.

Herschel’s Visual Monitoring Camera images showed the 4.9-meter-tall SYLDA 5 after its release from Ariane 5, receding against a background of clouds, ocean and coastlines as it trailed behind the space telescope. 

These images were assembled for an animated view of SYLDA 5 by the European Space Agency, which funded the development of Herschel and Planck, and will operate the two spacecraft for their mission to unlock secrets of the universe’s origins. 

The animation has been posted on the space agency’s website, along with images from the European Space Agency’s Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain that show Herschel, Planck and SYLDA 5 flying in formation after being deployed by Ariane 5.

Arianespace’s May 14 launch was Ariane 5’s third flight of 2009, and marked its first launch with payloads destined for the Sun-Earth system’s second Lagrange point (L2), which is 1.5 million km. from Earth.   Ariane 5 placed Herschel and Planck into a highly accurate initial orbit with an estimated perigee of 270 km. and an apogee of approximately 1,197,000 km. – providing an Earth escape trajectory for their voyages to the second Lagrange point.

Herschel carries a 3.5-meter-diameter primary mirror that will explore the “cold” universe – studying the chemical composition of the atmosphere around celestial bodies and the universe’s molecular chemistry.  Planck is designed to observe the Cosmic Microwave Background – helping to determine the universe’s fundamental characteristics, including the overall geometry of space, the density of normal matter and the rate at which the universe is expanding.