The process was initiated with the installation of Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD 10
spacecraft atop the Ariane 5 SYLDA dispenser system (in the photo on the right). This activity occurred in the payload integration area of Ariane 5’s final assembly building at the Spaceport, creating the upper component of the payload stack.
As a result, the HOT BIRD 10/SLYDA combination is now ready to be positioned over the Ariane 5’s lower satellite, the SES NEW SKIES NSS-9 spacecraft, which will be installed directly atop the launcher’s core cryogenic stage.
During the upcoming launch, HOT BIRD 10 will be released first in the payload deployment sequence, followed by the SYLDA dispenser’s separation, clearing the way for Ariane 5’s release of NSS-9.
HOT BIRD 10 was built by prime contractor EADS Astrium, and is based on the company’s Eurostar E3000 spacecraft bus. It will be the second HOT BIRD satellite launched for Eutelsat on consecutive Arianespace missions, and follows the identical HOT BIRD 9 spacecraft orbited by Ariane 5’s year-ending 2008 mission on December 20. HOT BIRD 9 had a liftoff weight of4,880 kg. and will handle cable and satellite broadcasting duties at Eutelsat’s orbital slot of 13° East, where HOT BIRD 10 also is to be located.
The NSS-9 satellite (in the photo on the left) will have a liftoff mass of 2,230 kg. for the upcoming
Ariane 5 mission, and was manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation.
This satellite is to be positioned at 183° East to provide communications links for SES NEW SKIES customers that include broadcasters, government users, Pacific island carriers and the maritime industry.
Joining NSS-9 and HOT BIRD 10 on Ariane 5’s February 12 launch are two 120-kg.-class Spirale microsatellites. They are demonstrators for a French space-based optical early warning program that will become part of an anti-ballistic missile defense system, and also contribute to other operational missions such as proliferation monitoring. The two Spirale spacecraft are installed on a ring-shaped support structure installed at the base of Ariane 5’s payload stack, and were built by Alcatel Space for Spirale program prime contractor EADS Astrium.
Previous to this on January 29, 2009 launch vehicle components for Arianespace’s second Ariane 5 flight of 2009 have arrived in French Guiana, allowing preparations to begin for an April mission that will carry two key European space science payloads. (Photo on the right: The MN Toucan heads to Pariacabo port near Kourou, carrying elements of the Ariane 5 that will launch Europe’s Herschel and Planck spacecraft on Arianespace’s second flight of 2009). These Ariane 5 elements were delivered yesterday by the MN Toucan, one of two sea-going ships that carries launchers from Europe to South America, and were transported today by road to the Spaceport.
This upcoming mission will loft a heavyweight payload for the European Space Agency, consisting of the Herschel space telescope and the Planck spacecraft for cosmic microwave background measurements. (Photo on the left: Ariane 5’s core cryogenic stage arrives by road at the Spaceport after being unloaded from the MN Toucan.)
With a liftoff mass of 3,300 kg., Herschel will be the largest space telescope of its kind ever launched. Its ability to detect space radiation at far infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths will help scientists to determine how the first galaxies were created, and how they evolved into their present-day form.
Data from Planck will provide answers on the universe’s creation, and how it is expected to develop in the future. Both payloads will be sent to the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system after their launch by Ariane 5, and ultimately will be placed in a Lissajous orbit around the L2 point at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Arianespace plans a total of six to eight Ariane 5 launches this year as it maintains this heavy-lift vehicle’s flight pace.
