Arianespace began its busy 2017 launch schedule with a Soyuz mission tonight that marked multiple “firsts” in orbiting the Hispasat 36W-1 telecommunications satellite on a flight from the Spaceport. Today’s success was Soyuz’ 16th launch from French Guiana since it began service at the Spaceport in 2011, and was designated Flight VS16 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system. The workhorse Soyuz vehicle previously delivered payloads on Spaceport missions to circular Earth orbits, low-Earth orbits, Sun-synchronous orbits, and an elliptical orbit for an Earth escape trajectory. Europe’s “SmallGEO” makes its debut Another first on tonight’s mission involved the Hispasat 36W-1 satellite itself, which is the initial spacecraft built using Europe’s new “SmallGEO” platform. Developed by Germany’s OHB System AG under ESA’s ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) program, the SmallGEO product line offers an entirely European solution in the smaller telecommunications satellite market. It benefits from faster production and testing processes, reduced costs and a broader range of design options. Keeping up the launch cadence in 2017 As the first Arianespace mission for 2017, Flight VS16 opens a busy launch manifest that targets up to 12 flights during the year, utilizing the medium-lift Soyuz, heavy-lift Ariane 5 and lightweight Vega. Of this total, six are planned between today and late April, underscoring Arianespace’s reactivity in meeting its customers’ launch requirements. ABOUT GTD AT KOUROU SPACE CENTER Since 2003, each time an Ariane 5, a Soyuz or a VEGA are launched from the spaceport in Guiana, as well as the payload, many hours of work are required from GTD’s technical teams. GTD supplies services and software in practically all steps of an Ariane 5 mission – from the launcher's flight program to the responsibility of ground systems that control the launching operations, as well as the radars, telemetry and mission control systems. Each launch is also a challenge for GTD’s team, who is responsible for all the computer systems at the launch site. Each launch is a fresh new project; there is no routine, which means our engineers always embark on an adventure than goes beyond technical jobs that require a lot of responsibility. Countdown: The campaign to prepare a launcher takes about 22 - 30 working days, and a campaign to prepare the payload (satellite) takes from 4 weeks to 5 months (depending on the mission and its magnitude). Our teams are currently able to launch up to seven double Ariane 5, up to four soyuz and up to two Vega per year, that is, 14 telecom satellites and 4 to 6 EO and scientific spacecraft every year. Launch day: The end of the countdown is near. The final operations to fill the liquid propellants on the Ariane 5, and then the ground operation tests are carried out on the launcher. During this stage, gtd's staff is working hard all round the Spaceport. In the launch site's bunker, the technical centre, in Des Pêres Mountain where the radar and telemetry installations are, in the meteorological centre where the last conditions before the launch is authorised. At the same time, a support team is configuring a backup of the computer systems in Barcelona, 8,000 km away from the Ariane 5, which is already letting out oxygen steam. Ariane is launched: Once the launcher is in the air, it is controlled on board (by the embedded computer) and from the Jupiter Control Centre (CDC). These two systems were also designed by GTD’s engineers and are currently being operated by GTD’s engineers, too. Once the launcher releases the payloads (at a height of 500 - 600 km), everyone breathes a sigh of relief and starts clapping and cheering and congratulating each other; but our engineers are already thinking about the next mission that starts the following morning.
