20 August 2015 – The 225th launch of the Ariane 5 rocket successfully, placing two telecommunication satellites in geostationary transfer orbits, took place on August 20th, following lift off from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. This is the fourth successful launch this year for Airbus Safran Launchers, which is the prime industrial contractor for Ariane 5 and future Ariane 6.
“This successful launch – our fourth in 2015 – is another high point for the teams at Airbus Safran Launchers and its parent companies and is testimony to the achievements of the teams at Airbus Defence and Space and Safran over the past decade,” said Alain Charmeau, CEO of Airbus Safran Launchers. “As the new prime contractor for Ariane 5, we would like to thank our partner and customer Arianespace as well as CNES and ESA for their confidence in our reliability.”
The launch saw 9913.4 kg transported into orbit ( 9082.7 kg for the satellites), at an optimised final inclination (4,7 ° instead of the standard 6°).
Airbus Safran Launchers is the prime contractor for the Ariane 5 European launcher, one of the largest and most ambitious space programmes in the world, since January 2015. The company oversees an industrial network that brings together more than 550 companies (more than 20% of which are SMEs) in 12 European countries. Airbus Safran Launchers also manages the entire industrial supply chain, from the manufacture of equipment and stages to the complete integration of the launcher in French Guiana, in line with the customer’s specifications. Representing cutting-edge European expertise, the Ariane 5 launcher has been specially designed to inject heavy payloads into orbit. Airbus Safran Launchers is also the prime contractor of the future European launcher, Ariane 6.
Ariane flight 225 in numbers:
- 225th Ariane launch
- 81th Ariane 5 launch and 50th Ariane 5 ECA
- 67th consecutive success for Ariane 5
- 4th Ariane 5 launch in 2015
- 4th Ariane rocket to be delivered to Arianespace that was assembled and tested under the responsibility of Airbus Safran Launchers, the prime contractor
- 25th Ariane 5 ordered by Arianespace since 2010, out of a batch of 53 launchers