Ariane 5 ready for launch

The Ariane 5 rocket is for launch today, the 29th October, from the French Spaceport at Kourou, on the edge of the Amazon forest in French Guiana.

With only two VIPs on board the rocket is set to launch at 5.00 pm local time.

The passengers will be the NSS-12 and Thor 6 satellites.

The latter has the lower bunk and will be released just less than thirty two minutes after launch.

Thor 6 is the first satellite to be launched by Arianespace for the Telenor Satellite Broadcasting firm, which is part of the Telenor group, based in Norway.

The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space and is based on the Space Bus 4000B2 platform.

It is fitted out with 36 Ku band transponders and will be used to provide direct-to-home satellite services in Northern Europe.