Mission Update
Basic assembly is completed for the next Ariane 5 to be launched in 2010
August 4, 2010 – Ariane Flight 197
Ariane 5’s upper composite (which consists of its ESC-A cryogenic upper stage and vehicle equipment bay) is installed on the heavy-lift vehicle inside the Launcher Integration Building. |
The fourth Ariane 5 for launch in 2010 has finished its initial build-up, as preparations move forward for another of Arianespace’s trademark dual-payload missions from the Spaceport in French Guiana.
During activity inside the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building, the assembly milestone was achieved this week with installation of the ESC-A cryogenic upper stage and vehicle equipment bay – which were fitted on the heavy-lift vehicle as a single unit.
The combined integration step is part of a streamlining introduced in Ariane 5’s build-up process to optimize the preparation workflow and support Arianespace’s flight rate.
Once final check-out steps are completed, this Ariane 5 ECA will be ready for transfer to the Final Assembly Building at the Spaceport – where it will receive its dual-satellite payload of Eutelsat’s W3B and the BSAT-3b spacecraft for B-SAT Corporation.
The Final Assembly Building is now able to accommodate this launcher following yesterday’s rollout of the third Ariane 5 in 2010 – which successfully orbited the NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R spacecraft today.
Liftoff of the Ariane 5 with W3B and BSAT-3b is scheduled for September 15.
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