PARIS — The European version of Russia’s Soyuz rocket has successfully completed a simulated launch campaign at Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport and its operations were formally transferred to the Arianespace commercial launch consortium May 7, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace announced.
Evry, France-based Arianespace also announced that the inaugural flight of Europe’s Soyuz has slipped again, to October. The flight will carry two Galileo positioning, navigation and timing satellites. Development of these spacecraft, and of two others that make up Galileo’s four-satellite In-Orbit Validation system, has taken far longer than expected following a series of obstacles encountered by the prime contractors, Thales Alenia Space and Astrium Satellites, both of Europe.
Arianespace officials had hoped to squeeze in a commercial Soyuz launch this summer, especially since the Soyuz launch pad and the vehicle itself are ready to go. But more recently the company, together with European governments, decided to wait for the Galileo satellites.
The dry run, conducted from April 29 to May 5, included a simulated liftoff of the Soyuz carrying a 2,570-kilogram telecommunications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit after a 30-minute flight. Equipped with a Fregat upper stage, the Europeanized Soyuz is capable of carrying telecommunications satellites weighing up to 3,000 kilograms into that orbit, which is the principal drop-off point for telecommunications satellites.
Vehicles loaded with Soyuz fuel were deployed to the site as part of the exercise, but the rocket was not actually filled with fuel.
Soyuz will complement the heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket and ESA’s future Vega small-satellite launcher, which like Soyuz is expected to make its inaugural flight, from a separate launch pad, late this year.
Evry, France-based Arianespace also announced that the inaugural flight of Europe’s Soyuz has slipped again, to October. The flight will carry two Galileo positioning, navigation and timing satellites. Development of these spacecraft, and of two others that make up Galileo’s four-satellite In-Orbit Validation system, has taken far longer than expected following a series of obstacles encountered by the prime contractors, Thales Alenia Space and Astrium Satellites, both of Europe.
Arianespace officials had hoped to squeeze in a commercial Soyuz launch this summer, especially since the Soyuz launch pad and the vehicle itself are ready to go. But more recently the company, together with European governments, decided to wait for the Galileo satellites.
The dry run, conducted from April 29 to May 5, included a simulated liftoff of the Soyuz carrying a 2,570-kilogram telecommunications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit after a 30-minute flight. Equipped with a Fregat upper stage, the Europeanized Soyuz is capable of carrying telecommunications satellites weighing up to 3,000 kilograms into that orbit, which is the principal drop-off point for telecommunications satellites.
Vehicles loaded with Soyuz fuel were deployed to the site as part of the exercise, but the rocket was not actually filled with fuel.
Soyuz will complement the heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket and ESA’s future Vega small-satellite launcher, which like Soyuz is expected to make its inaugural flight, from a separate launch pad, late this year.