Final 2016 Mission Scheduled For Wednesday

The 11th Arianespace mission of 2016 has been given the go-ahead for its December 21 liftoff from the Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying the Star One D1 and JCSAT-15 satellites for deployment into geostationary transfer orbit.

This year-ending flight will mark the seventh of an Ariane 5 in 2016, and is the second time during the year that Arianespace will orbit two passengers built by U.S. spacecraft manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SSL) on the same heavy-lift Ariane 5 launcher.

The go-ahead for the mission was granted after the Launch Readiness Review, which validated the “go” status of the launch vehicle and its two payloads, along with the Spaceport’s infrastructure and the network of tracking stations.

Positioned in Ariane 5’s upper passenger position, protected by the launcher’s ogive-shaped payload fairing is the Star One D1 relay platform for Brazil’s Embratel Star One. Once operational at its geostationary orbital position of 84 to 75 deg. West, Star One D1 will complement the service provided by Embratel Star One’s Brasilsat B4 satellite (launched by Arianespace in 1994), extending operations in C-Band and bringing new capacities in Ku-band for Latin America and Ka-band for Brazil.

JCSAT-15 is Flight VA234’s lower passenger, contained in Ariane 5’s SYLDA dispenser system. This spacecraft will be utilized by Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. to broadcast the multi-channel pay TV service SKY PerfecTV! across Japan, as well provide data transfer communications and maritime/aviation applications for the Oceania and Indian Ocean regions.

After reaching the orbital location of 110 deg. East longitude, JCSAT-15 will replace the N-SAT-110 satellite, launched by Arianespace in 2000.

(Source: Arianespace news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.airanespace.com