While it was supposed to put the telecommunications satellite Eutelsat Konnect into orbit, Ariane 5 will ultimately not take off today. The reason: high winds. The flight was postponed for 24 hours.
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Published on September 6, 2022 at 6:10 p.m.,
updated on September 6, 2022 at 6:53 p.m.
Weather red for the second Ariane 5 of the year. The fourth mission to the CSG was to begin this Tuesday, September 6 at 6:45 p.m. but the weather service, on the lookout for each shooting day, has planned unfavorable winds aloft, blowing from North to South.
The CNES, responsible for safeguarding the Guiana Space Center, has therefore decided to postpone the launch this evening because the flight, leaving precisely towards the East, exposed the coast to the fallout of debris on inhabited areas in the event of destruction..
In August 2020, Vega flight 16 suffered 4 postponements, like Soyuz in December of the same year.
For now, the postponement of this 114th copy of an Ariane 5 is 24 hours.
This Wednesday, September 7, weather permitting, an attempt to launch Ariane 5 flight 258 will take place at 6:45 p.m. with only one passenger on board: the Eutelsat Konnect VHTS telecommunications satellite.
L’engin, who weighs 6.4 tons, is the largest satellite manufactured by Thales Alenia Space. When deployed, it will measure 8.80 meters, the equivalent of a three-story building.
The mission should last less than 29 minutes.
Eutelsat Konnect VHTS must offer access to high-speed Internet for all of physical Europe, in particular regions currently isolated from any coverage.
The machine hosts a state-of-the-art payload, equipped with a high-performance digital processor to ensure the best network coverage on the ground.