Thu, Dec 29, 2011
2011 Was a Good Year For Arianespace
On Wednesday, December 28, Arianespace and Starsem orbited six
new satellites of the Globalstar-2 constellation.
The 1,784th launch of a Soyuz family rocket (Soyuz-Fregat
version) took place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The
launcher lifted off at 17:09 Universal Time on Wednesday, December
28, 2011 (11:09 pm local time, 6:09 pm in Paris, and 9:09 am in San
Francisco). Arianespace, Starsem and their Russian partners
confirmed that the Fregat orbital stage accurately injected the six
Globalstar-2 satellites into their targeted orbit. Two successive
firings of the Fregat stage were needed to carry out this mission.
After stabilization of the stage, the dispenser released the two
satellites positioned in its upper section; 1 minute and 40 seconds
later, the four satellites in the lower part of the dispenser were
released simultaneously. The six satellites were injected into
orbit 1 hour and 38 minutes after liftoff.
This latest success for the Soyuz launcher – and for the
Fregat upper stage (29 missions, 29 successes) – clearly
indicates the capabilities of the Samara Space Center
(TsSKB-Progress) and NPO Lavotchkine, as well as the skills of the
operating teams working under the authority of Russian space agency
Roscosmos. Each Globalstar-2 satellite, built by Thales Alenia
Space, weighs approximately 650 kg at launch. The new constellation
features an optimized design to provide telephone and data
transmission services to businesses and individuals in more than
120 countries.
The first 12 satellites of the Globalstar-2 constellation were
orbited successfully by Arianespace and Starsem on October 19, 2010
and on July 13, 2011. The 6 other satellites comprising the
constellation will be launched from Baikonur by Arianespace and
Starsem during the first half of 2012. From February to November
1999, Starsem had launched the 24 satellites in the Globalstar-1
constellation and in 2007 launched eight replacement
satellites.
2011 has been good to Arianespace... In the past 12 months, they
have orbited eight telecommunications spacecraft for worldwide
customers; deployed 12 second-generation satellites for the
U.S.-based Globalstar; launched Europe’s second Automated
Transfer Vehicle to service the International Space Station; lofted
two In-Orbit Validation platforms for the European Galileo
satellite navigation service; orbited the Pléiades 1 and
SSOT multi-role civilian/defense imaging spacecraft for France and
Chile, respectively; and carried four French-developed ELISA
demonstrators for defense-related electronic intelligence
gathering.
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