November 9, 2015

Next Ariane 5 mission set to orbit - ARABSAT-6B and GSAT-15 satellites

Tuesday 10 November, Ariane 5 will lift off from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, to place two new telecommunications satellites into orbit: ARABSAT-6B for the operator Arabsat and GSAT-15 for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It will be Ariane 5’s sixth launch this year and its 83rd flight in all.

With a launch mass of 5.8 tonnes, ARABSAT-6B is a telecommunications satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space (TAS) for the operator Arabsat. The first of the sixth generation of ARABSAT satellites, it will deliver radiobroadcasting, broadband and telecommunications services to the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. It has an expected service lifetime of over 15 years.

With a launch mass of 3.2 tonnes, GSAT-15 is a telecommunications satellite built and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). GSAT-15 will deliver telecommunications services and navigation and emergency services to India, joining ISRO’s fleet of 13 operational telecommunications satellites. It has an expected service lifetime of 12 years.

The launch of Ariane 5 will be broadcast live on
ariane.cnes.fr/live via the Dailymotion video platform

Check out the Guiana Space Centre launch-campaign photos
in the CNES Flickr Gallery

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Contacts
Pascale Bresson    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Alain Delrieu    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 74 04    alain.delrieu@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37    julien.watelet@cnes.fr