ariane v mission data arianespace flight flight v was originally intended to carry the hughes hs series galaxy iv satellite but the payload was withdrawn just prior to flight the th ariane launch is now scheduled to place the astra c and arsene satellites into an improved geostationary transfer orbit gto with inclination reduced to degrees and apogee altitude increased by km this will be the th launch of an ariane and the first in the l configuration with liquid strap on boosters pal it will be launched from the newly refurbished ariane launch complex ela in kourou french guiana the launch vehicle performance requirement for this mission is kg of which kg represents the satellite mass the total vehicle mass at liftoff is kg required orbit characteristics perigee altitude km apogee altitude km at injection inclination degrees the ariane l lift off for flight is scheduled on thursday april as soon as possible within the following launch window kourou time gmt washington dc launch vehicle ariane l this is a three stage liquid fueled launcher with two liquid fueled strap on boosters the first stage l is built by aerospatiale and is powered by liquid fueled viking v engines the second stage l is built by mbb erno and is powered by a single viking iv engine both the viking iv and v engines are manufactured by sep the first and second stages use a biliquid uh n o fuel the third stage h is built by aerospatiale and is powered by a cryogenic h o fueled hm b engine built by sep the two strap on boosters pal are each powered by a viking vi engine also built by sep which use the same biliquid fuel as the first and second stages the fully assembled launch vehicle stands meters high on the pad it uses the type ariane short payload fairing flight profile liquid strap on booster jettison first stage separation second stage ignition fairing jettison second stage separation third stage ignition third stage shutdown orbit injection astra c separation cyclade adapter separation arsene separation end of ariane mission payloads astra c is the third spacecraft in the fleet of societe europeenne des satellites to broadcast direct tv to homes all over europe built by hughes it will be the second hs launched by ariane total mass at lift off kg mass at geo insertion kg dry mass kg on board power w end of life nominal lifetime years span of solar panels m on orbit position degrees east over africa transmission capacity channels in ku band via transponders in flight operations solar array deployment about days after lift off first of apogee motor firings about hours after lift off at th apogee arsene is the first spacecraft built by the european space industry for the benefit of the world amateur radio community total mass at lift off kg mass at geo insertion kg dry mass kg on board power w end of life nominal lifetime years spacecraft dimensions m x m orbital parameters km inclination period transmission capacity s band transponder at ghz vhf uhf mhz launch coverage all ariane missions are broadcast live via satellite from kourou coverage begins at minutes before launch and continues until all payloads have been deployed this mission will likely be carried in the us on galaxy however it could be galaxy or another satellite what is the european satellite normally used for ariane coverage dean adams
