[meteorite-list] Ariane 5 Is In The Launch Zone With Its Rosetta Payload

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:27 2004
Message-ID: <200402251646.IAA16539_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/news_sub_missionupdate_index.html

Arianespace
Flight 158
February 24, 2004

Ariane 5 is in the launch zone with its Rosetta payload

The ELA-3 launch zone at Europe's Spaceport is once again alive with
activity following the rollout of Flight 158's Ariane 5 this morning.

Emerging into the sunlight at 3:30 p.m., the completed Ariane 5 moved along
a 2.8-km.-long dual rail line that links the Final Assembly Building with
the launch zone.

Flight 158's Ariane 5 Generic vehicle is installed on a massive mobile
launch table, which was locked into position in the ELA-3 launch zone after
its arrival at approximately 4:20 p.m. This positioned it over large flame
ducts that direct exhaust from Ariane 5's two solid rocket motors and the
core stage's Vulcain cryogenic main engine.

Liftoff of Flight 158 will occur in the early morning hours of February 26.
This mission uses a very specific launch slot instead of the typical launch
window for Ariane 5 missions that carry geostationary satellite payloads.
Because of the unique mission profile with the Rosetta comet-intercept
spacecraft, the exact launch time has been set for 49 seconds past 4:36 a.m.

The duration of Flight 158 also is unusual for an Ariane 5 mission. After
liftoff, booster separation and burnout of the central core stage, Ariane
5's EPS upper stage will enter a prolonged ballistic phase, followed by its
delayed ignition at almost 2 hours after liftoff. Rosetta will then be
separated from the stage approximately 14 minutes later, embarking on an
Earth escape trajectory that will lead to its encounter with Comet
Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.

Rosetta was developed in a European Space Agency program and was built by an
industrial team involving more than 50 contractors from 14 European
countries and the United States. The prime spacecraft contractor is Astrium
Germany, and major subcontractors are Astrium UK (for the spacecraft
platform), Astrium France (spacecraft avionics) and Alenia Spazio (assembly,
integration and verification).
Received on Wed 25 Feb 2004 11:46:00 AM PST