Cluster Launch
We’ve got three launches coming up in the next few days.
From Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, an Ariane 5 will launch a dual-payload: ASTRA 3B and COMSATBw-2.
Ariane-V194 Launch window…
From 7:01 p.m. to 7:44 p.m., local time in Kourou, French Guiana
From 6:01 p.m. to 6:44 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
From 10:01 p.m. to 10:44 p.m. UTC, on May 21.
From 12:01 a.m. to 12:44 a.m. in Paris, on May 22.
On 20 May 2010 21:58:22 UTC, JAXA’s H-IIA rocket will launch (H-IIA F17) AKATSUKI to explore Venus and the IKAROS solar sail. You can watch that one live, too. That will be from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.
Friday night, live from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a Delta IV will launch GPS 2-F1 for the U.S. Air Force. Launch window: 11:25 – 11:43 p.m. EDT (22 May 2010 03:25 UTC). Noteworthy…
The GPS IIF system brings next-generation performance to the constellation. The GPS IIF vehicle is critical to U.S. national security and sustaining GPS constellation availability for global civil, commercial and defense applications. Besides sustaining the GPS constellation, IIF features increased capability and improved mission performance and longevity.
This is a mission of several important firsts. Not only is it the first IIF to be launched, this will be the first GPS satellite to ride on the Delta IV launch vehicle.
Watch it live on the ULA site, or downlink the C-band broadcast…
SATELLITE – Galaxy 19
TRANSPONDER – G19C-08
BAND – C-band Analog
ORBITAL POSITION – 97 degrees
CARRIER – INTELSAT
BANDWIDTH – 36 MHz
DOWNLINK FREQ – 3860 MHz Horizontal
BARS AND TONE: 10:30 p.m.
BROADCAST START: 11:04 p.m.
Go Ariane! Go H-IIA! Go Delta IV!
