Arianespace announced that on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at 06:50 pm local time, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana (South America), and successfully orbited two, geostationary, telecommunication satellites — MEASAT-3d and GSAT-24.
“With this Ariane 5 mission, Arianespace is honored to support the ambitions of two key actors in the Asia-Pacific region: MEASAT, the leading Malaysian satellite operator and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Government of India company within the Department of Space (DOS) acting in concert with the Indian Space Agency ISRO. With the orbiting of both MEASAT-3d, the fourth satellite that we’ve launched for the benefit of Malaysia, and GSAT-24, the 25th Indian satellite we’ve delivered for them, we are affirming our long term partnership with these two great actors,” said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace.
MEASAT-3d, to be co-located with MEASAT-3a and MEASAT-3b in the 91.5°E orbital slot, is a multi-mission telecommunications satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space. It will significantly enhance broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbps per user in areas with limited or no terrestrial network throughout Malaysia, while continuing to provide redundancy and additional capacity for video distribution in HD, 4K, and ultimately 8K in the Asia-Pacific region.
MEASAT-3d will also carry an extremely innovative payload on behalf of the Korean operator KTSAT. Conceived by Airbus Defense and Space, it will be used by the Korean Augmentation System (KASS), a project of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport led by KARI, the Korean Space Agency, to significantly improve air traffic control in South Korea.
GSAT-24 is a Ku-band 4-ton class communications satellite built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) that will provide high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services across India. It will be the first “Demand Driven” communications satellite mission undertaken by NSIL.
“After the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, this new achievement helps Ariane 5 write a new chapter in space history”, said André-Hubert Roussel, CEO of ArianeGroup. “Ariane 5 demonstrates its reliability once again, justifying the trust of Arianespace’s customers worldwide. Its successes are tied to Ariane 6, which benefits from the same reliability along with increased competitiveness and versatility.”
The Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher is an ESA program carried out in cooperation between public institutions and industry across 12 European partner states.
ArianeGroup is the lead contractor for the development and production of Ariane 5, and is responsible for campaign operations and preparation of the launch vehicle up to lift-off. ArianGroup hands over a “ready to fly” rocket to its subsidiary Arianespace, which sells the Ariane 5 and operates it from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. During launch campaigns, Arianespace works closely with CNES, who is the design authority for the Ariane 5 and controls the satellite preparation facilities at the CSG.
After this launch, four Ariane 5 vehicles remain before the Ariane 6 takes up the baton, supporting Europe’s institutional missions, while meeting the growing needs of the commercial market.