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The powerful of Europe Ariane 5 The rocket will fly for the first time in almost a year today (July 30) and you will be able to witness the takeoff live.
The launch of an Ariane 5 surmounted by two communication satellites is planned from The European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, tonight during a 90-minute window that opens at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT). You can watch the action live here on Space.com, courtesy of the operator Ariane 5 Arianespace, or directly via the French company.
One satellite rising today is Star One D2, which will be operated by Brazilian telecommunications company Embratel. The spacecraft will allow Embratel “to extend broadband coverage to new areas of Central and South America, provide Internet access to underserved populations and add updated X-band payload to the network. government use in the Atlantic region, “Arianespace officials wrote in a statement. mission description.
The other satellite on board Ariane 5 is Eutelsat Quantum, which was jointly developed by the French company Eutelsat, Airbus Defense and Space and the European Space Agency. Eutelsat will operate the satellite, which has an active antenna that is “a first for the European commercial telecommunications industry,” Arianespace representatives wrote in the mission description.
The Ariane 5 made its last flight in August 2020. In two separate launches that year, the rocket encountered problems with the system that separates its payload fairing, the nose cone that protects the loads. useful when launching. Both missions were successful, but Arianespace took the Ariane 5 out of service to resolve the issue, as Space News reported.
NASA will no doubt follow tonight’s launch – and another Ariane 5 takeoff slated for September – with great interest. One of the agency’s most anticipated missions, the $ 9.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, will be launched on Ariane 5 from Kourou this fall.
Mike Wall is the author of “The low“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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