Arianespace in Final Preparations for Helios IIA Launch; Integrates Six Auxiliary Payloads for Flight 165

The ASAP dispenser ring is lowered into position atop Ariane 5’s central core stage. (Arianespace/CNES photo)

Kourou, French Guiana, Nov. 25/Satnews Daily/ — Arianespace announced Thursday the six auxiliary satellites to be orbited by Flight 165 have also been mounted on a dispenser ring that will be installed with the Ariane 5's primary payload.

These small satellites have varying missions, including communications with remote scientific ground stations, studies of the Earth's climate, and the validation of technologies for a future space-based military electronic intelligence (ELINT) system.

Ariane 5 G vehicle was moved last week from the integration facility to the Final Assembly Building, making a startup of the last major phase of preparations for this upcoming Arianespace launch. With the launcher in the Final Assembly Building, Arianespace said Ariane 5 is ready to receive its primary payload - the French Helios IIA military reconnaissance platform.
 

Liftoff of Flight 165 is set for December 10 from the Spaceport's ELA-3 launch complex.

The integration operation began last week with the installation of Spain's Nanosat on the Ariane 5 dispenser ring. Nanosat is Spain's first small satellite, and it was built by the country's INTA national space agency (Instituto Nacional de Técnia Aeroespacial). With a weight of less than 20 kg., the spacecraft is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of applying scaled-down components and sensors in mini satellites.

Nanosat carries extremely small magnetic and solar sensors, along with a store-and-forward communications system that will relay information from remote scientific facilities in Antarctica and elsewhere to a central station in Madrid.

The next satellite integrated on the Ariane 5 dispenser ring was Parasol, a small spacecraft from the French CNES National Space Agency that will study the impact of aerosols and how they interact with clouds. This information is to help scientists better understand the Earth's climate.

Parasol is equipped with a wide-field imaging radiometer/polarimeter called POLDER (Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances), designed in partnership with the LOA atmospheric optics laboratory in Lille, France.

During its planned two-year mission, Parasol is to join a so-called "A-Train" of spacecraft with a full complement of instruments to observe clouds and aerosols. Other satellites forming the "A-Train" will be Aqua and Aura (from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Calipso (a NASA/CNES project), CloudSat (a U.S./Canadian partnership involving Colorado State University, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Department of Energy), and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (NASA).

The final four satellites to be integrated on Flight 165's Ariane 5 dispenser ring were the small Essaim spacecraft developed by the French defense procurement agency (DGA) to validate technologies for a future space-based electronic intelligence (ELINT) system. The Essaim spacecraft are generally similar in overall size and appearance to the 120-kg. Parasol satellite, and these four payloads were installed on the dispenser ring in a series of steps completed early this week.

Recent Stories:

Arianespace to Use Improved Soyuz Launcher Beginning 2007

Arianespace Prepares for Two Upcoming Ariane 5 Missions

Arianespace to Launch 50 Nanosatellites in Historic Mission

AirTV Chooses Arianespace to Launch its First Broadband Satellite in 2007