Ariane 5's first liftoff of 2013
(糖心视频)鈥擳he first Ariane 5 heavy-lift mission of the year has delivered the Azerspace/Africasat-1a and Amazonas-3 telecom satellites into their planned transfer orbits.
Liftoff of flight VA212 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana came at 21:36 GMT (22:36 CET; 18:36 French Guiana) right at the opening of the launch window. The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 246.9 km, an apogee altitude of 35聽895 km with an inclination of 6掳.
Both satellites were accurately injected into their transfer orbits 27 and 36 minutes聽after launch, respectively.
Amazonas-3 is the first high-power telecom satellite to offer services in Ka-band over Latin America. It will provide telecommunications and broadband connectivity in Europe, as well as America and North Africa, from its geostationary position over 61掳W.
Azerspace/Africasat will provide a wide range of telecommunications services for Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 46掳E.
Payload mass for Ariane's 68th launch was 10聽350 kg, including the auxiliary payload adaptors, which is a new record for Ariane 5 GTO missions.
Flight VA212 was Ariane 5's 54th successful launch in a row since December 2002.
Provided by European Space Agency