The Ariane 5 is about to fly for the very last time on Wednesday, July 5, sending government communication satellites for Germany and France into space. Also referred to as flight VA261, the rocket will launch from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana, with a goal window between 22:00 UTC to 23:05 UTC. The present T0 is at the beginning of the window.
The satellites onboard the Ariane 5 include the Heinrich-Hertz (H2SAT), on behalf of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the Syracuse 4B, on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA). Flight VA261 is about to last for 33 minutes and 32 seconds from lift-off to the separation of the last satellite, based on Arianespace, the operator of the Ariane 5, and can place the payloads right into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
The launch was initially scheduled for June 16 but was delayed on account of “the redundancy of a critical function on the Ariane 5,” based on a Tweet by Arianespace, the rocket operator. On June 23, ArianeGroup, the manufacturer of the vehicle, announced the updated launch date after the corporate replaced the three pyrotechnical transmission lines related to the solid rocket boosters that were identified as the difficulty.
Based on the flight sequence published by the rocket contractor ArianeGroup, Heinrich-Hertz will separate from the upper stage at roughly T+29:55 minutes after lift-off, followed shortly by Syracuse 4B satellite separation at T+33:32 minutes.
This event will mark the tip of the Ariane 5 program after 27 years of operation. The launch will notch the Ariane 5’s flight log as much as 117 in total and may also be the 347th launch for your entire Arianespace family of launchers.
Customers riding the last Ariane 5
The ultimate launch is about to enhance telecommunications for Germany and France. Germany’s H2SAT communications satellite is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, implemented by the DLR, and built by German-based space manufacturing company OHB System GmbH.
The legend is about to make its last voyage towards the celebs, leaving an indelible mark on Europe’s space adventure. With this last Ariane 5 patch, we pay tribute to its shining success story.#OneLastAriane5 #Ariane5 #ArianeGroup #Arianespace #VA261 @arianespace pic.twitter.com/3dBeNtqoF1
— ArianeGroup (@ArianeGroup) June 5, 2023
Based on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) eoPortal, “the target of the mission is to explore and show recent communication technologies in space at a technical and scientific level in an effort to determine how broadband communications, for instance, may end up in high data rates for mobile end users.”
The namesake of the satellite is Nineteenth-century German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who discovered electromagnetic waves. The demonstration mission will enable universities and research institutes to conduct in-space experiments that can validate recent communication technologies for future use.
OHB won the €310.5 million contract to construct the satellite in 2017. Under the contract, the corporate is answerable for the scientific and technical points of the technology, including overseeing project milestones.
The satellite is propelled by the High-Efficiency Multistage Plasma (HEMP) thruster, which is able to power the course corrections of the satellite. The DLR claims HEMP has a selected impulse five times higher than the “best” chemical thrusters and reduces the general weight and price of the satellite. Nevertheless, the satellite may also accommodate a special heritage electric propulsion system, the SPT-100 Hall-effect thruster as a backup solution.
Based on the DLR, the satellite weighs roughly 3,450 kilograms and is concerning the size of a van. It’s going to orbit the Earth at an approximate altitude of 36,000 kilometers in geostationary orbit for 15 years.
Also launching on the Ariane 5 will probably be the second installment of France’s Syracuse 4 program (formerly the ComSat NG program), the Syracuse 4B. Orbiting hand-in-hand with the Syracuse 4A which launched in October 2021, Syracuse 4B will aid France’s “uninterrupted communications capability” through the next-gen telecommunications satellites, based on the French space agency, CNES.
Crazy-busy days at @EuropeSpacePort!
Our upcoming #Ariane5 is now all dressed up and our two passengers, SYRACUSE 4B and Heinrich-Hertz-Satellit, are snug under the fairing of our beauty. ☺️#VA261 pic.twitter.com/MqangTYvwk— Arianespace (@Arianespace) June 13, 2023
The Syracuse 4 satellite duo will replace Syracuse 3A and 3B, which were launched in 2005 and 2006. The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) contracted Thales Alenia Space to develop Syracuse 4A and Airbus Defence and Space for Syracuse 4B. The Germany-based aerospace manufacturer was tasked with constructing the satellite upon its Eurostar 3000EOR (Electric Orbit Raising) spacecraft bus.
Airbus can be in command of the bottom station that can monitor and communicate with the satellite.
“Relay capabilities of the 2 Syracuse IV satellites reply to the increased data transmission needed for digitalisation of the battlefield,” said Airbus Defence and Space. “These Earth-orbiting platforms also will provide long-distance capability to recent categories of users, similar to drones and armoured vehicles, in addition to aircraft operated by the French Air and Space Force and the Navy. Operating within the X- and Ka-bands, the satellites offer increased performance by way of communications capability, flexibility and resistance to jamming, thereby meeting the longer term needs of armed forces.”
The satellite has been developed with several recent innovations, similar to recent primary antennas, larger frequency bands, and an anti-jamming system to extend communication capability.
The Syracuse 4 satellites are intended to orbit Earth for 15 years and will probably be joined by a 3rd Syracuse 4C system in the longer term.
27 years of the Ariane 5
The Ariane 5 is a heavy-lift rocket built by ArianeGroup and operated by its subsidiary, Arianespace. The 2-stage vehicle was developed for ESA’s launch program and its first launch took place on June 4, 1996, dubbed flight V88. While the launch failed after the rocket veered off its flight path about 40 seconds following lift-off, the vehicle has since built up a 96% success rate and is referred to as the reliable workhorse of the European space industry.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/My-project-1-5.png)
First flight for the Ariane 5 in 1996. (Credit: ESA)
The vehicle was a very new edition of Ariane in comparison with its 4 predecessors and was “developed from scratch”, ESA says. After the success of the Ariane 4, which flew from 1988 until 2003, the expansion of space applications called for a much bigger rocket.
“It began with the telecom revolution, which happened within the second half of the 80s,” Rüedeger Albat, the Ariane 5 program manager told NSF. “For the primary time in history, communication was really low-cost, and tv was becoming direct. All these needed transport possibilities and this was Ariane 1, 2, 3, and 4 initially. This business grew incredibly fast by way of cadence, but in addition by way of weight of the satellites, [so] something greater was tremendously needed.”
“So, [Ariane] 5 was simply Ariane 4 with double payload,” continued Albat.
The Ariane 5 program was officially approved on the 1987 Ministerial conference, with the hope that it could maintain Europe’s competitive edge in expendable launchers and carry CNES and ESA’s proposed human-rated Hermes spaceplane, which eventually got canceled.
The rocket had several versions, including the Ariane 5G, Ariane 5G+, Ariane 5GS, and Ariane 5 ES. Nevertheless, the Ariane 5 ECA (Evolved Cryogenic, model A) became the one operational configuration from 2019 onwards. The Ariane 5 ECA has increased payload capability due to multiple upgrades. For instance, its EAP boosters carry 10% more propellant with an upgraded nozzle that’s cheaper to provide and the famous Vulcain 2 engine has several performance enhancements.
The Ariane 4’s largest launcher, the 44L, had a maximum payload mass to GTO of as much as 4.7 tonnes, whereas the Ariane 5 ECA could carry a maximum payload mass of 11 tonnes into the identical orbit.
Closing this system, the Ariane 5 ECA flew 83 launches since its first successful flight in 2005, which followed three years after its failed maiden flight in 2002. The Ariane 5’s busiest launch years were 2009, 2012, and 2016 – each featuring seven flights in total.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Ariane_launch_log_1996_to_2023_pillars.jpg)
Ariane 5 launches from 1996 to 2023. (Credit: ESA)
Rüedeger Albat described the Ariane 5 because the “very precise Swiss Knife” of the European launch industry. “It might probably do loads of interesting missions,” he said. The Ariane 5 launched several high-profile missions into space, including a dozen Galileo satellites, the Rosetta mission — which was the primary to rendezvous with a comet — the James Webb Space Telescope, and most recently the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft.
“The second thing which may be very essential and really special for Ariane 5 in my opinion, is the precision which comes from loads of thorough exploitation,” Albat said. “Each flight is actually exploited in probably the most favorable way… and this permits you to save loads of lifetime for precious payloads.”
Not without its struggles
While its success rate is barely lower than its predecessor, the Ariane 5 began a brand new era for launch in Europe. It not only operated the longest, but in addition cemented Europe’s ability to access space, furthered the continent’s confidence in its capabilities, and embodied the reliability of the Ariane program.
However the success of the Ariane 5 got here after rocky origins.
In an ESA-led paper from 2000 that explored the history of the European space industry, it was clear that France was unsure concerning the Ariane program from the start. The French Ministry of Finance believed it could be unsuccessful on account of the arrival of the Shuttle and attempted to terminate this system altogether.
Nevertheless, after much push and pull, the successful launch of the Ariane 1 on Christmas Eve in 1979 proved otherwise. The paper claimed that it restored Europe’s “self-confidence of their capability to administer large technological projects, and reassure politicians and industrialists that access to space for European technologies was guaranteed.”
The Ariane 1 made Europe the third actor to have independent access to space after the USA and the USSR.
Soon all we could have left will probably be photos and videos, so let’s have a look back at some stunning images of Ariane 5. Are you ready?#OneLastAriane5 #Arianespace #ArianeGroup #Ariane5 pic.twitter.com/zDEyZBG8TY
— ArianeGroup (@ArianeGroup) June 14, 2023
Further, ESA claimed that the launch “inaugurated a brand new era within the balance of power within the international space arena,” and “broke the USA’ hegemony within the Western world over space transportation systems and created the foundations for a more equilibrated collaborative effort between America and Europe.”
Albat also claimed that there was an analogous reluctance when he began on the Ariane 5 program within the late 80s. Even by the fifth iteration, European nations were hard to persuade, and considered one of ESA’s roles was to steer member states that the newer vehicle was value their money.
“It’s at all times tough initially,” Albat said. “In space, [we] love proven concepts, and once we began with Ariane 5, we had a beautiful Ariane 4, and all our partners asked us why we’re throwing away Ariane 4… But we did it, and it was hard to do it, but we had something higher on our hands.”
Albat said he saw an analogous response to the upcoming Ariane 6. Nevertheless, after almost ten years of development, the rocket is on its method to attempting its first flight. The successor, which has an updated Vulcain 2.1 engine for the lower stage, a brand new Vinci engine for the upper stage, and offers the choice of two or 4 P120C strap-on boosters, likely won’t launch in 2023 on account of further delays — but its entry into the market will probably be significant for Europe.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ariane6.png)
Artist illustration of Ariane 6 with 4 boosters. (Credit: ESA)
The Ariane 6 has been controversial for its lengthy delays and the dearth of technological advancements like reusability, and even each the Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël and Albat assert it’ll not operate so long as the Ariane 5. Nevertheless, Albat has confidence within the rocket’s ability to extend launch capability inside Europe.
“Ariane 6 matches well with today’s specific European launch needs: the primary three production years are already sold out,” Albat said. “Also, Ariane 6 will probably be a central tool for Europe to stay a primary player in international cooperation, at equal footage with other space-faring nations.”
“Re-usability, combined with sustainable green technologies, can be under preparation in Europe: big demonstrators [such] as Prometheus (re-usable green high thrust liquid propulsion) or Themis (big re-usable demonstrator maturing technologies for reusable primary stages or reusable liquid boosters) will bring ends in the following years and will probably be available for future upgrades or recent vehicles,” Albat continued.