Satmex 5
Ariane 42L
Arianespace
Mission
Satmex 5
- Type: Communications
- Orbit: Geostationary Orbit
SATMEX 5 is a Hughes HS-601HP or "high power" version of the body-stabilized spacecraft. It features more than 7,000 Watts of payload power, at least 10 times the capacity of Morelos II. Through such innovations as dual-junction gallium arsenide solar cells, radiation-cooled traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), advanced battery technology, and a xenon ion propulsion system, XIPS, the HS-601HP can carry payloads twice as powerful as those on the HS 601 models, with an expected 15-year mission lifetime.
Location
Ariane Launch Area 2
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Ariane Launch Area 2 has witnessed the launch of 119 rockets, including 119 orbital launch attempts. While Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana, has been the site for 323 rocket launches.
The Guiana Space Centre is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east.
Rocket
Aérospatiale Ariane 42L
The Ariane 4 was an expendable space launch system, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.