Star One C1 arrives in French Guiana for the fifth Ariane 5 mission of 2007

[BGonaSTICK]

The second satellite for Arianespace's next dual-passenger Ariane 5 mission has been delivered to the Spaceport in French Guiana, moving launch campaign activity into full swing for the November 9 liftoff.

Thales Alenia Space's Star One C1 spacecraft arrived at Cayenne Rochambeau International Airport aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo airliner, and was transported to the Spaceport's S1B clean room for its initial check-out.

To be utilized by Brazilian satellite operator Star One – which is owned by Embratel and GE International Holdings – Star One C1 will provide telecommunications, multimedia and high speed internet services to South America.

The spacecraft is based on Thales Alenia Space's Spacebus 3000 B3 platform, and carries 28 C-band transponders, 14 Ku-band transponders and 1 X-band transponder. It will have a mass at liftoff of 4,100 kg., and is to be positioned at 65° West after its deployment by Ariane 5.

Joining Star One C1 on the November 9 launch will be the United Kingdom's Skynet 5B secure military communications satellite. Skynet 5B was delivered to the Spaceport in September, and is continuing the pre-launch preparation process. It will be the second Skynet 5-series spacecraft launched by Arianespace in 2007, following the orbiting of Skynet 5A on an Ariane 5 mission in March.

Arianespace is targeting a total of six Ariane 5 flights in 2007. Its most recent success lofted the Intelsat 11 and Optus D2 spacecraft on October 5. The other Ariane 5 flights performed so far this year were on August 14 with the SPACEWAY 3 and BSAT-3a payloads; on May 4, with ASTRA 1L and Galaxy 17; and on March 11, with Skynet 5A and INSAT 4B.

Source: Arianespace

[Analoguesat]

Two postponements, but a successful launch tonight with both Skynet 5B and Star One C1 safely delivered to orbit