LAUNCH CENTER

Success

Sun Dec 06 1998

Arianespace

Satmex 5

Launch Successful

LAUNCH PREVIEW

Launch Time

(12:43 AM UTC)

Launch Window Start

(12:43 AM UTC)

Launch Window End

(12:43 AM UTC)

RECOVERY OVERVIEW

Location

No Recovery Specified

Type

No Recovery Specified

Rocket Details

Name:

Ariane 42L

Description:

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.

MISSION OVERVIEW

Type: Communications
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.

COMPLEX OVERVIEW

Location

Kourou, French Guiana

Pad

Ariane Launch Area 2