European Super-Rocket To Be Launched Within The Next Hour

Europe is holding its breath right now. Within the next hour they are launching the Ariane 5-ECA (again...). A crucial launch for Europe's space program.

From: BBC: Expectations ride on super-rocket


The 50m-high (160ft) vehicle exploded four minutes into its first mission in 2002, destroying a telecoms payload valued at 600 million euros (£410m).

Rocket operator Arianespace believes it has fixed the cause of the failure and is betting its future on the ECA.

Lift-off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana is timed for a launch window that runs from 1949 to 2110GMT.

The ECA will carry two satellites: the Spanish XTAR-EUR military communications payload and an experimental spacecraft, called SloshSat, which will study how fluids behave in orbit.

At lift-off, it is calculated that the 780-tonne ECA will be producing 13,000 kiloNewtons of thrust, and at maximum velocity, some 640km (400 miles) above the Earth, its upper stage will be travelling at more than 9km/s (5.5 miles/s).

Good luck. They hope they have fixed the problem which caused it to explode in 2002 destroying a payload valued at 600 million euros. Another failure would not be good...

[edit on 2006/4/30 by Hellmutt]

I'm not much for rocket science but since 'Round 1' didn't go so well and 600 million Euros are involved. Good luck Europe. I'll be there in a few weeks.

its aqn impressive rocket, and it looks good, and with 2 years of extra work, they should have all the kinks out. Remember the one that blew up was the first, problems are a fact of life.

It looks like it's up.

BBC
Europe has launched its most powerful rocket to date - the Ariane 5-ECA.

The 50m-high (160ft) vehicle blasted off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 2103 GMT, putting eight tonnes of satellite payload into orbit.

Good news for the European space initiative.

Originally posted by AceOfBase
It looks like it's up.

Great to hear it was a successful launch.

I was out in the storm here in Denmark and didn`t see it. Someone I know saw the launch on TV on some french TV-channel, TV5 I believe.

what did it haul and in what orbit is it droping em off at?

Originally posted by Murcielago
what did it haul and in what orbit is it droping em off at?

"The ECA will carry two satellites: the Spanish XTAR-EUR military communications payload and an experimental spacecraft, called SloshSat, which will study how fluids behave in orbit."

All I can find on the orbit is that it will be a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

I found this. Note the smoke belching out to the left and right near the end of the sequence.

Ariane.mpeg - (1.24 Mb)

I hope one day I can design a spaceship for Europe. It doesnt look like NASA is ever going to do anything again unless Bushs plan to build a base on the moon comes into action. Heres hopint

Originally posted by Hellmutt
I found this. Note the smoke belching out to the left and right near the end of the sequence.

It was probably just the solid booster seperation. I haven't seen the video yet since I'm on dialup right now, but I think it's fairly safe to say that's the cause.

Pretty too! Another step for our brethern overseas...

Like michael jackson said, it don't matter if your black or white..

I say it doesn't matter if your american or european, we all bleed red.

Good luck and we'll be watching.

keep us updated on the studies, I find all that stuff so very interesting.

Oh it's too bad........ I just found this additional footage from a few minutes after launch.



Seriously - good job though! I'm glad it was a success.

[edit on 13-2-2005 by AgentSmith]