Ariane 5 receives its upper stage

November 25, 2005

Ariane 5 receives its upper stage


The Ariane 5 Generic launcher for Arianespace's December dual-satellite
mission completed its basic buildup with this week's integration of the EPS
upper stage.

This upper stage will carry the mission's payloads to their injection orbit,
and has the longest burn of any propulsive stage on Ariane 5. It is powered
by an Aestus engine, and carries approximately 9.7 metric tons of hypergolic
propellant that is stored in four pressurized tanks.

In the photo at left, the EPS is raised inside the Launcher Integration
Building at Europe's Spaceport as mission team members monitor the progress.
The stage's nozzle, propellant tanks and helium pressurization bottles are
clearly visible in this image.

The EPS was then fitted within Ariane 5's Vehicle Equipment Bay - the
launcher's "brain" - which also was installed this week. Both the upper
stage and equipment bay are produced by EADS Astrium.

Once the various launcher components have completed their checkout, the
Ariane 5 will be transferred to Spaceport's Final Assembly Building, where
the dual satellite payload will be integrated.

Scheduled for liftoff in the second half of December, the Ariane 5 Generic
will orbit Europe's no. 2 Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-2) meteorological
satellite, along with the INSAT 4A telecommunications spacecraft for the
Indian Space Research Organisation.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info