Heavy-lift Ariane 5 Moved to Arianespace’s Final Assembly Building; Liftoff Set for Feb. 12

The Ariane 5 ECA on its launch table (Arianespace/ESA/CNES photo)

Kourou, French Guiana, Jan. 10/Satnews Daily/ — The Ariane 5 ECA for Flight 164 is now in the Spaceport's Final Assembly Building, taking the mission one step closer to liftoff, Arianespace said on Friday. The heavy-lift Ariane 5 was positioned in the facility last week, having been moved from the Launcher Integration Building where the vehicle underwent its assembly.

Prior to the installation of its payload, the Ariane 5 ECA will be rolled out to the launch zone for a full-scale launch countdown rehearsal scheduled for January 12. This will be followed by the Ariane 5's return to the Final Assembly Building, where it will be fitted with the XTAR-EUR telecommunications platform and a multi-element supplemental payload, according to Arianespace. Liftoff of the mission is planned for February 11.
 

The mission's primary payload is the XTAR-EUR telecommunications platform, which will serve the needs of U.S., Spanish and allied governments. Also carried aboard the Ariane 5 will be an experimental/test payload consisting of the Sloshsat mini satellite (which is to be separated during the mission), and the Maqsat B2 telemetry/video imaging package (which will remain mated to Ariane 5 throughout the mission).

The heavy-lift version of Ariane 5 has a payload capacity to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) of 9,600 kg., compared to 6,700 kg. for the Ariane 5 Generic configuration currently in operation.

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