Ariane 5 completes 100th successful launch, Horizons 3e and Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38 in orbit, a new historic milestone for spacefaring Europe
During the night of 25-26 September, Ariane 5 completed a flawless launch from Europe’s spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), orbiting two telecommunications satellites: Horizons 3e, built by Boeing for Intelsat and its partner SKY Perfect JSAT, and Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38, built by Space Systems Loral (SSL) for Azercosmos and Intelsat. The launch marked Ariane 5’s 100th successful flight, its fourth in 2018 and the sixth of the year from the CSG.
With a launch mass of 6.4 tonnes, Horizons 3e is the fourth satellite on which operators SKY Perfect JSAT and Intelsat have cooperated. It will replace Intelsat 805 and complete Intelsat EpicNG’s global coverage to provide broadband, mobility and government customers with new-generation high-throughput services at 30 gigabits per second to the Asia-Pacific region and the Pacific Ocean. It has an expected service lifetime of 15 years.
With a launch mass of 3.5 tonnes, Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38 is the second geostationary satellite to be placed into orbit for Azercosmos, the main operator in the South Caucasia region. This telecommunications satellite will offer capacity and coverage to support growing demand in the region for direct-to-home (DTH), government and network services. It will expand the current capacity currently of Azerspace-1 and provide broadband connectivity for customers in Africa, Europe, Central and South Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. It has an expected service lifetime of 15 years.
Horizons 3e and Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38 are the 206th and 207th satellite to be orbited by Ariane 5.
On the occasion of this historic milestone for spacefaring Europe, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “This 100th flight for Ariane 5 confirms Europe’s pre-eminent position in the space launch market, which it has achieved through the reliability and availability of its launchers. Today’s success demonstrates once again the excellence of the Guiana Space Centre and shows that it is the best launch base in the world. I would like to congratulate and thank all of the teams to whom we owe this success for their professionalism and expertise, at ESA, Arianespace, ArianeGroup, Intelsat, SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation and Azercosmos. And of course I would like to hail the excellence of CNES’s engineers who designed and developed Ariane 5, which has enabled Europe to become the world’s number two space power.”
cp142-2018_-_succes_va243_va.pdf (pdf - 123.67 KB)CONTACTS
Pascale Bresson Press Officer Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39 pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Raphaël Sart Press Officer Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 74 51 raphael.sart@cnes.fr
Sébastien Martignac Press Officer Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 35 sebastien.martignac@cnes.fr
