Courtesy of AGI's Launch Notification e-mails. AGI's E-mails are sent after every launch and include key spacecraft information such as: the date, time, launch site, launcher, international number, name, and owner. Get more information on thousands of satellites and other vehicles by viewing STK models, animations, and our encyclopedic "Spacecraft Digest" database at www.agi.com/scdigest.
New Launch: 2010 December 29, 2127 UTC
Site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana
Launcher: Ariane 5
International Designator(s): 2010-070A, 2010-070B
SSC Name Owner
37264 HISPASAT 1E SPN
37265 KOREASAT 6 SKOR
"Two commercial satellites for the expansion of communications services from space were launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket today, capping another successful year for the booster that saw a dozen payloads deployed in 2010.
"The hydrogen-fueled main engine roared to life at 2127 GMT (4:27 p.m. EST), followed seven seconds later by ignition of the twin solid rocket motors to begin thundering out of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou on the northeastern coast of South America.
"The heavy-lift launcher, making its 55th flight, climbed steeply through the late afternoon sky and headed downrange for a half-hour trek into geosynchronous transfer orbit to deliver the Spanish Hispasat 1E and South Korea's Koreasat 6 spacecraft."
"The Ariane achieved a highly elliptical orbit stretching 22,321 miles [35,922 km] at its farthest point from Earth and 155 miles [249 km] at the nearest. The satellites will use their onboard engines to circularize the orbit and reach geostationary slots in the coming days.
"Riding atop the dual payload stack was Hispasat, a powerful spacecraft to be operated by the Madrid-based company of the same name, will expanded available video and data transmission services for bridging the Atlantic and coverage across Europe."
"Manufactured by Space Systems/Loral with an 18-year lifetime, the 11,725-pound [18,870-kg] satellite carries 53 Ku-band transponders and a Ka-band capability.
"It will be parked in geostationary orbit over the equator at 30 degrees West longitude alongside the Hipasat 1C and 1D birds launched aboard Atlas 2AS rockets from Cape Canaveral in 2000 and 2002, respectively."
"Sharing the ride to orbit aboard the Ariane 5 rocket was the 6,275-pound [10,099-kg] Koreasat 6, a communications satellite designed to operate at least 15 years and serve South Korea by operator KT Corp. of Seoul.
"Built by Orbital Sciences with Thales Alenia Space supplying the communications payload, Koreasat 6 is bound for a geostationary orbital slot at 116 degrees East longitude. It has 30 Ku-band transponders for telecommunications and direct-to-home TV transmissions.'
"The new satellite replaces Koreasat 3 that launched aboard an Ariane 4 rocket in 1999 and was sold to another Asian spacecraft controller earlier this year."
Source: Spaceflight Now, "2010 concludes with Ariane rocket's 199th launch"
