May 14th 2009: Ariane 5 provided another demonstration today of its operational flexibility in Arianespace service by placing two payloads on their way to deep space missions that will provide new insights into the origins and future of our universe.Departing the Spaceport in a rare morning liftoff, the heavy-lift Ariane 5 carried its Herschel and Planck passengers into a very elliptical orbit with a perigee of 270 km. and an apogee of nearly 1.2 million km. This will allow the two European Space Agency scientific spacecraft to subsequently perform the maneuvers enabling them to reach the Sun-Earth system’s second Lagrange point (L2), which is 1.5 million km. from Earth.Congratulations from M. Le Gall to all suppliers involved in Ariane 5Mr. Le Gall congratulated the European Space Agency (ESA), which will operate the Herschel and Planck spacecraft launched on today’s flight. “This is the latest proof of the extraordinary achievements of ESA’s scientific program, for which Arianespace is please to play a role in its success.”In addition, the Arianespace Chairman & CEO thanked all of the suppliers, organizations, agencies and others involved in the Ariane 5 program for their contributions to the launch vehicle’s track record of highly accurate missions. “I want to tell them that more than ever, their competence, strong will – and especially their passion – warrants true respect,” he stated. Herschel had a mass at liftoff of 3,400 kg. and became the largest space telescope ever launched. Developed to provide astronomers with data at far-infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths, Herschel carries a 3.5-meter-diameter mirror that will explore the “cold” universe – studying the chemical composition of the atmosphere around celestial bodies and the universe’s molecular chemistry. This spacecraft was released first during the mission, deployed from atop Ariane 5’s payload “stack” at just under 26 minutes into the flight. Planck was installed in the launcher’s lower payload position, and it separated from the launch vehicle approximately 2 min. 30 sec. later. This 1,920-kg. spacecraft is designed to observe the Cosmic Microwave Background – helping to determine the universe’s fundamental characteristics, including the overall geometry of space, the density of normal matter and the rate at which the universe is expanding. GTD’s subsidiary “Najera Aerospace” from Logroño (La Rioja) have celebrated this beautiful moment with the best way they can, that is with wine from La Rioja . A special edition of the very famous “liquid” was specially opened for this special event.GTD in Barcelona, celebrated as well this great event with a wide event with the participation of a lot of engineers from Aerospace department, as well as several customers who were at this moment in our facilities. C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!! TO EVERYBODY
