Communication satellites launch from French Guiana spaceport

The launcher rolled out from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building for Ariane 5 to the ELA-3 launch zone, where it is scheduled for liftoff during a 43-minute window that opens November 10 at 6:34 p.m. local time in French Guiana.

It also has the third GAGAN payload to provide satellite based navigation services. After a flight of 43 minutes and 24 seconds, GSAT-15 separated from the Ariane 5 upper stage in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 250 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,819 km, inclined at an angle of 3.9 degree to the equator. Speaking at Kourou, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) Director M Annadurai said, “GSAT-15 satellite signal has been acquired by Master Control Facility at Hassan (in Karnataka)”.

Arianespace has conducted its sixth Ariane 5 mission of the year with the launch of two more telecommunication satellites.

The GAGAN payload provides the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS), through which the accuracy of the positioning information obtained from the GPS satellites is improved by a network of ground based receivers and made available to the users in the country through geostationary satellites.

“This includes the two satellites’ mass at liftoff – 5,798 kg for Arabsat-6B and 3,164 kg. for GSAT-15 – along with launcher integration hardware and Ariane 5’s dual-passenger deployment system”, Arianespace said.

Arabsat-6B, to be renamed BADR-7 once in orbit, was the ninth satellite orbited by Arianespace for use by the operator Arabsat, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

ISRO has a long history of launching payloads with Arianespace – dating back to the third mission of an Ariane-series vehicle in 1981. They are expected to help with broadcasting in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and India. On December 7, 2014, Ariane 5 flight VA 221 had launched GSAT-16.