Article Posted on : - Jun 01, 2010

Ariane5 next mission to launch into orbit: COMS satellite (left) ARABSAT 5A (right). Arianespace photo

NEW DELHI (BNS): Arianespace has set the date for the next Ariane 5 launch for June 23.

On its second launch of the year, Arianespace will loft into orbit the ARABSAT 5A telecommunications satellite for operator Arabsat and the multimission COMS satellite for Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the company said in a release.

COMS satellite is the first European-built 3-axis stabilized geostationary observation satellite that carries payloads dedicated to meteorology applications, ocean monitoring and telecommunications.

The satellite will be accompanied on the Ariane 5 mission by Arabsat-5A which is the initial fifth-generation spacecraft for Arabsat.

Arabsat-5A will be located at an orbital position of 30.5 degrees. It will provide additional capacity for a full range of satellite communications services over sub-Saharan Africa, the North Africa and Middle East (MENA) region and beyond.

On May 21, Arianespace successfully launched two communications satellites into geostationary - the ASTRA 3B commercial communications satellite and the COMSATBw-2 military communications satellite. This was the 50th launch of an Ariane 5 and the 36th successful launch in a row.

Ariane 5 is a commercial satellite launcher capable of simultaneously launching two payloads.

During the past 50 flights, Ariane 5s have carried commercial telecommunications satellites; military relay, reconnaissance and early warning spacecraft; Earth observation platforms and meteorological satellites; scientific space probes, experimental and developmental payloads, and the first Automated Transfer Vehicle for servicing of the International Space Station.

Arianespace - the world’s leading launch Service & Solutions Company - has launched a total of 277 payloads, including more than half of all the commercial satellites now in service worldwide.