Go ahead for Ariane 5 flight on July 31

Arianespace’s fifth mission of 2020 has been given the “green light” for liftoff following the launch readiness review, which was conducted at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

This milestone confirmed that the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and its three passengers – Galaxy 30 (G-30), the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) and BSAT-4b – are flight-ready, along with the Spaceport’s infrastructure and the network of downrange tracking stations.

With approval granted, Ariane 5 also is cleared for rollout on July 30 from its Final Assembly Building to the ELA-3 launch zone. Liftoff will occur on July 31 during a 46-min. launch window opening at 6:30 p.m. local time in French Guiana.

Ariane 5 will deliver a total payload lift performance of approximately 10,468 kg. on the mission to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), which is designated Flight VA253. This total factors in the three passengers, plus the workhorse vehicle’s multi-payload deployment system and integration hardware.

G-30 and MEV-2 – both produced by Northrop Grumman to serve the operational needs of Intelsat – are stacked together in the upper position of Ariane 5’s payload configuration. G-30 will be deployed first during the 47-minute flight sequence, followed by MEV-2.

To be released last as the mission’s lower passenger, BSAT-4b is being launched by Arianespace as part of a turnkey contract between the Japanese operator B-SAT and the satellite manufacturer, Maxar.