1st Ariane 5G+ Soon (Rosetta)

Arianespace.com has the V158/A518 (Rosetta) press kit
online, which provides interesting info on the planned
2/26/04 launch.

This will be the first Ariane 5G+ with a delayed-start
EPS upper stage. On this mission, for the first time,
an Ariane 5 will enter a parking orbit (something like
170 x 650 km) at the end of the core cryo stage (EPC)
burn 9 min 43 sec after liftoff. The 17 minute EPS burn
will not commence until nearly two hours after liftoff
(within RF view of Hawaii after about 1.5 orbits). This
burn will accelerate 3 ton Rosetta and EPS into solar
orbit (10,410 m/sec relative velocity).

The kit says that the EPC stage will fall back to Earth
in the Pacific, west of the Galapogos Islands. The
stage will have enough velocity (8,098 m/sec) to achieve
orbit, but the orbit perigee must be low enough to slow
the big empty stage down quickly.

- Ed Kyle

(ed kyle) wrote in message . com...

This will be the first Ariane 5G+ with a delayed-start
EPS upper stage. On this mission, for the first time,
an Ariane 5 will enter a parking orbit (something like
170 x 650 km) at the end of the core cryo stage (EPC)
burn ...

Make that roughly 45 x 3850 km for EPC and 200 x 4000 km
for the EPS stage and Rosetta. EPC will reenter at first
perigee about two hours after liftoff. The primary EPS
burn will braket its first perigee.

- Ed Kyle