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List of Ariane launches (2020–2029)

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Main article: List of Ariane launches
List of Ariane launches
1979–1989 · 1990–1999 · 2000–2009 · 2010–2019 · 2020–2029

This is a list of launches performed or scheduled to be performed by Ariane launch vehicles between 2020 and 2029. During this time, the Ariane 5 was retired in favour of the Ariane 6 rocket.

Launch statistics

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Rocket configurations

[edit]
  •   Ariane 5 ECA+
  •   Ariane 62
  •   Ariane 64

Launch outcomes

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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24
'25
'26
'27
'28
'29
  •   Failure
  •   Partial failure
  •   Success
  •   Planned

Launch history

[edit]

Source: Arianespace Press Kits [1][better source needed]

2020

[edit]
Flight No. Date
Time (UTC) 		Rocket type
Serial No. 		Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customers Launch
outcome
VA251 16 January 2020
21:05 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5110 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Eutelsat Konnect
GSAT-30 		6,976 kg GTO Eutelsat
ISRO 		Success
Eutelsat communications satellite and ISRO communications satellite.
VA252 18 February 2020
22:18 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5111 		Guiana
ELA-3 		JCSAT-17
GEO-KOMPSAT 2B 		9,236 kg GTO SKY Perfect JSAT
KARI 		Success
SKY Perfect JSAT communications satellite and KARI meteorological satellite.
VA253 15 August 2020
22:04 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5112 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Galaxy 30
MEV-2
BSAT-4b 		9,703 kg GTO Intelsat
Northrop Grumman
BSAT 		Success
Flight VA253 was planned to launch in June 2020.[2] However, launch campaign activities were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent the spread in French Guiana and protect Centre Spatial Guyanais employees, all launch activities were suspended on 16 March 2020.[3][4][5] Operations for Vega flight VV16 and Ariane 5 flight VA253 could not resume until 28 April 2020.[6][7][8] VA253 activities were listed among the top priorities at the reopening of the Guiana Space Center on 11 May 2020.[9] The launch was rescheduled for end of July 2020[7][10][11] to place the satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit from which they will eventually be placed into geostationary orbit through their own propulsion. The flight was again aborted on 28 July 2020, due to a "red" warning in the system, resulting from a sensor problem related to LH2 tank on the core stage.

American satellite operator Intelsat and Japanese Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT) are the customers for Ariane flight VA253.[12][13]

Galaxy 30 is a communications satellite built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (formerly Orbital ATK) on the GEOStar-2 platform for Intelsat. It has C-band, Ku-band, Ka-band payloads, as well as a WAAS payload for a mass of 3,325 kilograms (7,330 lb).[14] Built in satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia, it will primarily serve video markets in North America.[15] As per Intelsat/Arianespace contract announced in January 2018,[16] Galaxy 30 would share the upper berth of the Ariane 5 ECA rocket with MEV-2, which is a Northrop Grumman second satellite servicing vehicle, identical to MEV-1. With a mass of 2,326 kilograms (5,128 lb), it would begin a five-year mission to extend the lifetime of Intelsat 10-02.[17] MEV-2 received FCC authorization on 25 March 2020.[18]

BSAT-4b is the second communications satellite of the fourth generation B-SAT, built by SSL (company) on its SSL 1300 platform. It has 24 Ku-band transponders and mass of 3,520 kilograms (7,760 lb).[19]

2021

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Flight No. Date
Time (UTC) 		Rocket type
Serial No. 		Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customers Launch
outcome
VA254 30 July 2021
21:00 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5113 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Eutelsat Quantum
Star One D2 		10,515 kg GTO Eutelsat
Star One 		Success
Brazilian Satellite operator Embratel and European Eutelsat were customers on the VA254 flight.[20]

Eutelsat Quantum is a European re-programmable telecommunications satellite equipped with Ku-band payload, developed in a public-private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA), Eutelsat and Airbus Defence and Space.[17] It had a launch mass of approximately 3,461 kilograms (7,630 lb) and a design lifetime of 15 years.[21]

Star One D2 is a telecommunications satellite equipped with C-, Ku-, Ka- and X-band payloads for high-speed telecommunications, television broadcast and fast broadband in South America, Mexico, Central America, and parts of the Atlantic Ocean.[14] It had a launch mass of approximately 6,190 kilograms (13,650 lb) and a design lifetime of 15 years.[21]

The target orbit was a geosynchronous transfer orbit with an apogee altitude of 250 kilometres (160 mi) and a perigee altitude of 35,726 kilometres (22,199 mi), at an inclination of 3°.[21]

The mission was planned to last 36 minutes and 24 seconds.[21][a]

VA255 24 October 2021
02:10 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5115 		Guiana
ELA-3 		SES-17
Syracuse 4A 		10,264 kg GTO SES S.A.
DGA 		Success
SES S.A. communications satellite and Direction générale de l'armement military communications satellite.
VA256 25 December 2021
12:20 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5114 		Guiana
ELA-3 		James Webb Space Telescope 6,161.4 kg Sun–Earth L2 NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI Success
James Webb Space Telescope.

2022

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Flight No. Date
Time (UTC) 		Rocket type
Serial No. 		Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customers Launch
outcome
VA257 22 June 2022
21:50 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5116 		Guiana
ELA-3 		MEASAT-3d
GSAT-24 		9,829 kg GTO MEASAT
NSIL / Tata Play 		Success
MEASAT communications satellite and NSIL communications satellite.
VA258 7 September 2022
21:45 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5117 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Eutelsat Konnect VHTS 6,400 kg GTO Eutelsat Success
Eutelsat communications satellite.
VA259 13 December 2022
20:30 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5118 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Galaxy 35
Galaxy 36
MTG-I1 		10,972 kg GTO Intelsat
EUMETSAT 		Success
Two Intelsat communications satellites and EUMETSAT meteorological satellite.

2023

[edit]
Flight No. Date
Time (UTC) 		Rocket type
Serial No. 		Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customers Launch
outcome
VA260 14 April 2023
12:14 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5120 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) 5,963 kg Jovicentric ESA Success
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.
VA261 5 July 2023
22:00 		Ariane 5 ECA+
5119 		Guiana
ELA-3 		Syracuse 4B (Comsat-NG 2)[23]
Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat) 		6,950 kg[24] GTO DGA
DLR 		Success
Ariane 5's last mission.[25]

2024

[edit]
Flight No. Date
Time (UTC) 		Rocket type
Serial No. 		Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit Customers Launch
outcome
VA262 9 July 2024
19:00 		Ariane 62
L6001[26] 		Guiana
ELA-4 		Multiple rideshare payloads 1,600 kg[27] LEO Various Partial failure
Maiden flight of Ariane 6. It was a flight test carrying a mass simulator plus a number of small cubesats and other experiments as rideshare payloads. Rocket launched successfully to orbit and upper stage performed a second burn to release cubesats. During attempt to perform a third burn to deorbit the upper stage, the rocket's auxiliary propulsion system failed. This failure prevented the upper stage from relighting.[28][29][30][31]

Planned launches

[edit]
Date
Time (UTC) 		Type Payload Orbit Customers
February 2025[32] Ariane 62 CSO-3 SSO CNES / DGA
French military reconnaissance satellite.
2025[33] Ariane 62 Galileo FOC FM 29, 30 MEO ESA
2025[34][33] Ariane 62 Galileo FOC FM 28, 31 MEO ESA
2025[34][33] Ariane 62 Galileo FOC FM 33, 34 MEO ESA
September-November 2025[35] Ariane 62[36] MetOp-SGA1 Polar EUMETSAT
2H 2025[37] Ariane 64 Project Kuiper (30+ satellites) LEO Kuiper Systems
First Ariane 64 launch and first Ariane launch for Project Kuiper
Q2 2026[38] Ariane 64 Intelsat 45 GTO Intelsat
June-August 2026[35] Ariane 64[36] MetOp-SGB1 Polar EUMETSAT
Q3 2026[39] Ariane 64[40] MTG-I2[41] GTO EUMETSAT
Q4 2026[42] Ariane 64 Multi-Launch Service (MLS) #1 rideshare mission GTO TBA
2026[43] Ariane 6 Galileo G2 1, 2 MEO ESA
2026[44][45] Ariane 64 Intelsat 41, 44 GTO Intelsat
Q4 2026[46][47] Ariane 62[48] PLATO Sun–Earth L2 ESA
2026[49][50] Ariane 64 Uhura-1 (Node-1)[51] GTO Skyloom
Q4 2027[42] Ariane 64 MLS #2 rideshare mission GTO TBA
2027[52][53] Ariane 64 Optus-11 GTO Optus
2027[54] Ariane 64 Earth Return Orbiter Areocentric ESA
2027[43] Ariane 6 Galileo G2 3, 4 MEO ESA
2027[55] Ariane 6 Hellas Sat 5 GTO Hellas Sat
Q4 2028[42] Ariane 64 MLS #3 rideshare mission GTO TBA
Q3 2029[42] Ariane 64 MLS #4 rideshare mission GTO TBA
2029[56] Ariane 62 ARIEL, Comet Interceptor Sun–Earth L2 ESA
2031[57] Ariane 64 Argonaut Mission 1 TLI ESA
2035[58] Ariane 64[59] Athena Sun–Earth L2,
Halo orbit 		ESA
2035[60] Ariane 6 LISA Heliocentric ESA
TBD[61] Ariane 64 17 more launches of Project Kuiper (35–40 satellites)[62] LEO Kuiper Systems
TBD[63] Ariane 62 Electra GTO SES S.A. / ESA
TBD[63] Ariane 62 Eutelsat ×3 GTO Eutelsat

Notes

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  1. ^ Statistics for flight VA254:[22]
    • 330th Arianespace launch (6th in 2021)
    • 254th Ariane launch (1st in 2021)
    • 110th Ariane 5 launch (1st in 2021)
    • 947th and 948th satellites put in orbit by Arianespace (151st and 152nd in 2021)
    • 12th Embratel satellite launched by Arianespace
    • 36th Eutelsat satellite launched by Arianespace
    • 85th consecutive rated operation of the Vulcain 2 engine
    • 110th consecutive rated operation of the EAP solid rocket boosters
    • 150th consecutive rated operation of the HM7B engine

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Press kits Archive - Arianespace". Arianespace. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  2. ^ Forrester, March 17, 2020, "The next scheduled commercial launches include a Galaxy 30 satellite (for Intelsat) and BSAT-4b (for Japanese satellite operator BSAT) which were scheduled for launch together in June"
  3. ^ Arianespace, March 16, 2020, "Face à l'épidémie de Covid-19 et pour mettre pleinement en œuvre les mesures décidées par le gouvernement français, les campagnes de lancement en cours au Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) sont suspendues".
  4. ^ CNES, March 16, 2020, "Au Centre Spatial Guyanais, suspension des campagnes de lancement, mise et maintien en sécurité des moyens opérationnels de la base, des lanceurs et des satellites en attente de lancement".
  5. ^ CNES, March 23, 2020, "All launch preparations have been suspended due to the potential uncertainty and danger of the health situation at a time when great care needs to be taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic in French Guiana".
  6. ^ CNES, April 28, 2020, "Operations to ready for Vega flight VV16 and Ariane 5 flight VA253 have resumed. Teams stationed permanently in French Guiana have been working to restore the base to its operational configuration since 21 April, applying the necessary distancing and transmission reduction measures."
  7. ^ a b Arianespace, April 29, 2020, "Following the measures presented by the French government on 28 April 2020 as part of the gradual resumption of activity planned from 11 May 2020, and the announcement of a restart of operational activities at the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace confirms its following launch objectives: [...] Flight VA253 – A dual-payload Ariane 5 mission for two customers, Intelsat and B-SAT, at the end of July 2020".
  8. ^ Henry 2020, "The reopening of the Guiana Space Centre, which suspended operations in mid-March as part of France's effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to allow Arianespace to resume satellite launches from there by mid-June."
  9. ^ CNES, May 11, 2020, "Priority projects and operations that will be resuming on site at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) are: the Vega VV16 and Ariane VA253 launch campaigns and the arrival of teams who will be observing a strict 14-day quarantine from 11 and 25 May respectively".
  10. ^ Forrester, May 1, 2020, "These will be launched on a single Ariane 5 rocket currently scheduled for the end of July".
  11. ^ Kanayama 2020, "VA253 is set to launch at the end of July".
  12. ^ Forrester, May 1, 2020, "The next commercial geostationary launch is for Galaxy 30 (3325 kg) for Intelsat on flight VA253 which has two important co-passengers. The first is a slightly larger satellite for Japan's BSat4B (3520 kg). But of perhaps extra importance is the second "space tug" for Northrop Grumman and its rescue craft MEV-2".
  13. ^ Kanayama 2020, "The next mission for Arianespace after VV16 is VA253 with the Ariane 5 rocket. It will carry the Galaxy-30, MEV-2, and the BSat-4B satellites".
  14. ^ a b Krebs, Galaxy 30 2020, "Intelsat awarded in January 2018 a contract to build the Galaxy 30 Ku- and Ka-band communications satellite to Orbital ATK, now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS). This satellite will be based on the flight-proven GEOStar-2 platform".
  15. ^ Northrop Grumman, Galaxy 30, 2020, "The satellite will be designed, built and tested at Northrop Grumman's state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia, and will primarily serve video markets in North America".
  16. ^ Arianespace, January 9, 2018, "The first launch will carry the Galaxy 30 satellite together with the Orbital ATK Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) as a stacked pair".
  17. ^ a b Krebs, MEV 1, 2 2020, "A second MEV was ordered for Intelsat in January 2018. MEV-2 is expected to be in service by mid-2020 on a five-year mission [...] MEV-2 will share the upper berth of an Ariane-5ECA+ rocket with Galaxy 30 [...]. The initial mission of MEV-2 is to extend the life of Intelsat 10-02".
  18. ^ FCC, MEV-2, 2020 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  19. ^ Krebs, BSat 4a, 4b 2020, "BSAT-4a will have 24 Ku-band transponders and will expand the availability of advanced television services such as high definition and 4K/8K ultra-high definition television. BSAT-4a is based on the highly reliable SSL-1300 platform"
  20. ^ "Arianespace to launch two telecom satellites into geostationary orbit". arianespace.com. 20 July 2021. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  21. ^ a b c d "VA254 launch kit" (PDF). arianespace.com. Arianespace. November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  22. ^ "Double success for Ariane 5: satellites Star One D2 and EUTELSAT QUANTUM placed in geostationary transfer orbit". arianespace.com. Arianespace. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  23. ^ Foust, Jeff (10 September 2019). "Airbus and Telespazio to sell excess capacity on Syracuse 4 satellites". SpaceNews. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  24. ^ "Everyday Astronaut Syracuse 4B & Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat) Ariane 5 ECA+". EverydayAstronaut. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  25. ^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Ariane-5". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  26. ^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Ariane-6". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  27. ^ ESA Space Transport [@ESA_transport] (4 July 2024). "The mass of the dummy payload is 1600 kg and it was built by @ArianeGroup in Les Mureaux, France" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 July 2024 – via Twitter.
  28. ^ Amos, Jonathan (10 July 2024). "Europe's Ariane-6 rocket blasts off on maiden flight". BBC. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  29. ^ Stephen Clark (10 July 2024). "Europe's first Ariane 6 flight achieved most of its goals, but ended prematurely". Ars Technica. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  30. ^ Andrew Parsonson (10 July 2024). "Ariane 6 Anomaly Will Have "No Consequence" On Upcoming Missions". European Spaceflight. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  31. ^ Adrian Beil (10 July 2024). "Ariane 6 successfully launches on maiden flight from French Guiana". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  32. ^ Foust, Jeff (8 November 2024). "Next Ariane 6 launch slips to early 2025". SpaceNews. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  33. ^ a b c "Arianespace to launch eight new Galileo satellites". Arianespace (Press release). 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  34. ^ a b Foust, Jeff (30 November 2023). "ESA sets mid-2024 date for first Ariane 6 launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  35. ^ a b "Planned launches". EUMETSAT. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  36. ^ a b "EUMETSAT to exploit ESA-developed launchers and flight operations software". EUMETSAT. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  37. ^ Guillermard, Véronique (13 August 2024). "Comment Ariane 6 s'est mise en ordre pour doubler la fréquence de ses vols". Le Figaro. Retrieved 27 September 2024. Some 6 rockets are currently at different stages of production, including the first A64, which is due to take off in the second half of 2025 to deploy a batch of more than 30 satellites on behalf of Kuiper, the Amazon constellation.
  38. ^ Foust, Jeff (12 September 2023). "Arianespace to launch Intelsat small GEO satellite". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  39. ^ "Meteosat series". EUMETSAT. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  40. ^ "EUMETSAT to exploit ESA-developed launchers and flight operations software". EUMETSAT. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  41. ^ Krebs, Gunter (10 September 2022). "MTG-I 1, 2, 3, 4 (Meteosat 12, 14, 15, 17)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  42. ^ a b c d "All flights opportunities". Arianespace. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  43. ^ a b "Arianespace to Launch the First Four Second-Generation Satellites for Galileo on Ariane 6". Arianespace (Press release). 29 April 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  44. ^ "Q1 2024 Results & Acquisition of Intelsat | Intelsat Future Satellite Launch Schedule" (PDF). SES. 30 April 2024. p. 40. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  45. ^ "Arianespace Ariane 6 to launch Intelsat satellites". Arianespace (Press release). 30 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  46. ^ "Planet-hunting eye of PLATO". ESA. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  47. ^ https://astrobiology.com/2024/06/the-plato-mission.html
  48. ^ "Mission Operations". ESA. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  49. ^ "NEC and Skyloom to Pioneer 100 Gbps Space Optical Communications, Transforming Global Internet Connectivity". NEC (Press release). 19 March 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024. Our plan is to launch the product into space by 2026.
  50. ^ "Skyloom signs contract with Arianespace for first launch". Arianespace. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  51. ^ @Arianespace (10 September 2021). "We are proud to launch Skyloom's 1st satellite Uhura-1 aboard an Ariane 6 in 2023. This laser-coms relay node will be a game changer for the industry. Congratulations to CEO Marcos Franceschini on this huge milestone" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  52. ^ "Arianespace to launch Australian satellite Optus-11 with Ariane 6". Arianespace (Press release). 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  53. ^ https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/business/350411994/sky-tv-asks-customers-to-check-if-they-can-pick-up-signal-from-replacement-satellite
  54. ^ "Earth Return Orbiter – the first round-trip to Mars". ESA. 7 April 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  55. ^ "TInternet Speed in Greece to Surge 1,000 Times with Hellas Sat 5". To Vima. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  56. ^ "ARIEL moves from blueprint to reality" (Press release). ESA. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  57. ^ Parsonson, Andrew (17 July 2024). "ESA Targets 2031 for First Argonaut Lunar Lander Mission". European Spaceflight. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  58. ^ "Athena | Mission Summary". ESA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  59. ^ "Athena X-ray observatory | Athena mission". Athena Community Office. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  60. ^ "Capturing the ripples of spacetime: LISA gets go-ahead". ESA. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  61. ^ "Arianespace signs unprecedented contract with Amazon for 18 Ariane 6 launches to deploy Project Kuiper constellation". Arianespace (Press release). 5 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  62. ^ Foust, Jeff (5 April 2022). "Amazon launch contracts drive changes to launch vehicle production". SpaceNews. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  63. ^ a b "SENER designs the mechanisms for the assembly of Electra, the first European commercial satellite with electric propulsion". SENER (Press release). 10 September 2019. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2021.

Sources

[edit]
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