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Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), low Earth orbit (LEO) or further into space. The launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017. Since 2014, Ariane 6, a direct successor system, first launched in 2024. The system was designed as an expendable launch vehicle by the ''Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the French government's space agency, in cooperation with various European partners. Despite not being a direct derivative of its predecessor launch vehicle program, it was classified as part of the Ariane rocket family. Aérospatiale, and later ArianeGroup, was the prime contractor for the manufacturing of the vehicles, leading a multi-country consortium of other European con ...
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ArianeGroup
ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris. It consists of three core groups: aerospace, defence, and security. ArianeGroup has developed its next-generation two-stage Ariane 6 launch vehicle, which succeeded the Ariane 5 rocket, that had more than 110 launches. The new vehicle offers two variants that will be capable of carrying between 10,350 and 21,650 Kilogram, kilograms. The first launch of Ariane 6 occurred on 9 July 2024. If the company's task is to develop and manufacture the launch vehicles, Arianespace acts as the launch service provider for them. Meanwhile, another subsidiary, ArianeWorks, is tasked with developing next-generation technologies such as the reusable Themis rocket booster. ArianeGroup also notably manufactures France's M51 (missile), M51 thermonuclear weapon, nuclear submarine-laun ...
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James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, List of the most distant astronomical objects, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope. This enables investigations across many fields of astronomy and cosmology, such as observation of the Population III star, first stars and the Galaxy formation and evolution, formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets. Although the Webb's mirror diameter is 2.7 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, it produces images of comparable optical resolution, resolution because it observes in the longer-wavelength infrared spectrum. The longer the wavelength of the spectrum, the larger the information-gathering surface required (mirrors in the infrared spectrum or antenna a ...
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Heavy-lift Launch Vehicle
A heavy-lift launch vehicle (HLV) is an orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting payloads between (by NASA classification) or between (by Russian classification) into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" Heavy-lift launch vehicles often carry payloads into higher-energy orbits, such as geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) or heliocentric orbit (HCO). An HLV is between a medium-lift launch vehicle and a super heavy-lift launch vehicle. History and design Government The first heavy-lift launch vehicles in the 1960s included the US Saturn IB and the Soviet Proton. Saturn IB was designed to carry the Apollo spacecraft into orbit and had increased engine thrust and a redesigned second stage from its predecessor. Proton was originally designed to be a large intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Russia still operates variants of the Proton , although it is expected to be phased out in favor of the Angara A5. NASA introduced the Space Shuttle as the first partially reusab ...
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Envisat
Envisat ("Environmental Satellite") is a large Earth-observing satellite which has been inactive since 2012. It is still in orbit and considered space debris. Operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), it was the world's largest civilian Earth observation satellite. It was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 790 ± 10 km. It orbits the Earth in about 101 minutes, with a repeat cycle of 35 days. After losing contact with the satellite on 8 April 2012, ESA formally announced the end of Envisat's mission on 9 May 2012. Envisat cost 2.3 billion Euro (including 300 million Euro for 5 years of operations) to develop and launch. The mission has been replaced by the Sentinel series of satellites. The first of these, Sentinel 1, has taken over the radar duties of Envisat since its launch in 2014. Mission Envisat was launched as an Earth observation ...
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Proton-M
The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an Expendable launch system, expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet Union, Soviet-developed Proton (rocket family), Proton. It is built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, Khrunichev, and launched from sites Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81, 81/24 and Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 200, 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services (ILS), and generally use Site 200/39. The first Proton-M launch occurred on 7 April 2001. Proton flew its most recent mission on 12 March 2023. As of August 2020, a number of Roscosmos and other Russian government missions remain on Proton launch manifest. Vehicle description The Proton-M launch vehicle consists of three stages; all of them powered by liquid rocket engines using the hypergolic propellant combination of dinitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer, and unsymmetrical dimethylh ...
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GSLV Mark III
The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or LVM3 (previously referred as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III or GSLV Mk III) is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit, it is also due to launch crewed missions under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. LVM3 has a higher payload capacity than its predecessor, GSLV. After several delays and a sub-orbital test flight on 18 December 2014, ISRO successfully conducted the first orbital test launch of LVM3 on 5 June 2017 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Total development cost of project was . In June 2018, the Union Cabinet approved to build 10 LVM3 rockets over a five-year period. The LVM3 has launched CARE, India's space capsule recovery experiment module, Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3, India's second and third lunar missions, and will be used to carry Gaganyaan, the first crewed ...
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Guiana Space Centre
The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximately north of the equator at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its near equatorial location and open sea to the east and north. At CSG, space launches are conducted by several European private companies and government agencies working together. The CSG land itself is managed by CNES, the French national space agency. The launch infrastructure built on the CSG land is owned by the European Space Agency. The private company Arianespace operates the launches including planning missions, handling customer relationships and overseeing the team at CSG that integrates and prepares vehicles for launch. The rockets themselves are designed and produced by other companies, ArianeGroup f ...
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ELA-3
ELA-3 () is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The complex was first used in June 1996 in support of the now retired Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationar ... rocket. It is currently being refurbished to support Vega E launches. The complex is in size. Launch history Launch graph Launch chart References {{Ariane Guiana Space Centre ...
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XMM-Newton
''XMM-Newton'', also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second cornerstone mission of ESA's Horizon 2000 programme. Named after physicist and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton, the spacecraft is tasked with investigating interstellar X-ray sources, performing narrow- and broad-range spectroscopy, and performing the first simultaneous imaging of objects in both X-ray and optical ( visible and ultraviolet) wavelengths. Initially funded for two years, with a ten-year design life, the spacecraft remains in good health and has received repeated mission extensions, most recently in March 2023 and is scheduled to operate until the end of 2026. ESA plans to succeed ''XMM-Newton'' with the Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (ATHENA), the second large mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, to be launc ...
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Ariane Flight VA256
Ariane flight VA256 was an Ariane 5 rocket flight that launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) into space on 25 December 2021. It was 2021's final Ariane flight, its most valuable payload to date, and the Ariane (rocket family), Ariane mission. The launch was described by NASA as "flawless" and "perfect". Launch configuration Rocket Ariane 5 is a heavy lift two-stage rocket with two solid fuel boosters. It was used in its ''Ariane 5#Variants, ECA+'' Ariane 5#Variants, variant, which offers the highest payload mass capacity. The total launch mass of the vehicle is . Payload The only payload on the flight was the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a space-based observatory built by NASA and European Space Agency, ESA. The launch is one of the European Space Agency's contributions to the project. The telescope had a launch mass of about and a design lifetime of 5 to 10 years. Preparation JWST Arrival in Kourou The James Webb Space Telescope arrived at a por ...
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Rosetta (spacecraft)
''Rosetta'' was a space probe built by the European Space Agency that launched on 2 March 2004. Along with ''Philae'', its lander module, ''Rosetta'' performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). During its journey to the comet, the spacecraft performed flybys of Earth, Mars, and the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Šteins. It was launched as the third cornerstone mission of the ESA's Horizon 2000 programme, after ''SOHO' Cluster'' and '' XMM-Newton''. On 6 August 2014, the spacecraft reached the comet and performed a series of manoeuvers to eventually orbit the comet at distances of . On 12 November, its lander module ''Philae'' performed the first successful landing on a comet, though its battery power ran out two days later. Communications with ''Philae'' were briefly restored in June and July 2015, but due to diminishing solar power, ''Rosetta'' communications module with the lander was turned off on 27 July 2016. On 30 September 2016, the ''Rosett ...
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Long March 5
Long March 5 (LM-5; zh, s=长征五号 , p=Chángzhēng wǔ hào) or Changzheng 5 (CZ-5), also known by its nickname "''Pang-Wu''" (胖五, "''Fat-Five''"), is a Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). It is the first Chinese launch vehicle designed to use exclusively non-hypergolic Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid propellants. It is the fifth iteration of the Long March (rocket family), Long March rocket family. There are currently two CZ-5 variants: CZ-5 and CZ-5B. The maximum payload capacities are approximately to low Earth orbit (for CZ-5B) and approximately to geostationary transfer orbit (for CZ-5). The Long March 5 roughly matches the capabilities of American National Security Space Launch, NSSL heavy-lift launch vehicles such as Vulcan Centaur. It is currently the most powerful member of the Long March (rocket family), Long March rocket family and Comparison of orbital launch systems, the world's fifth m ...
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