Ariane 5’s second liftoff this year
Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites, SGDC and Koreasat-7, into their planned orbits.
Arianespace announced the liftoff at 21:50 GMT (23:50 CEST, 18:50 local time) yesterday from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission lasted about 36 minutes.
Brazil’s SGDC Geostationary Satellite for Communications and Defense, with a launch mass of 5735 kg, was the first to be released after about 28 minutes. The 3680 kg Koreasat-7 was released eight minutes later.
SGDC, operated by Telebras SA, will provide Brazil with broadband, new space technologies and strategic communications. The satellite has a design life of more than 18 years.
Koreasat-7, operated by ktsat, will provide telecommunications and broadcasting services over Korea, the Philippines, Indochina, India and Indonesia. The satellite has a design life of more than 15 years.
The payload mass for this launch was 10 289 kg. The satellites totalled about 9415 kg, with payload adapters and carrying structures making up the rest.
Flight VA236 was the 92nd Ariane 5 mission.
