Ariane 5, operated by Arianespace, has lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana for the last time.
Its final mission, carrying Heinrich-Hertz-Satellit for the German government and SYRACUSE 4B for the French Ministry of Defence, left the spaceport at 19.00 local time.
“This 117th and last Ariane 5 mission is emblematic in several respects. Ariane 5 has just deployed two telecommunications satellites, SYRACUSE 4B and Heinrich-Hertz-Satellit, for France and Germany, the first two contributors to the Ariane program,” said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace.
The satellite, which had launched satellites on behalf of SES, Eutelsat, Intelsat, Telenor, and many others will be replaced by Ariane 6 with its re-ignitable Vinci engine. During the course of its lifetime, Ariane 5 has served 65 institutional and commercial customers from 30 countries.
“We are now taking up the challenge of Ariane 6, the beneficiary of the experience acquired with Ariane 5. It will be able to evolve and play a full role in guaranteeing independent, sustainable access to space for Europe, in a context of major strategic, economic and environmental challenges, to meet the needs of its institutional and commercial customers,” said Martin Sion, CEO of ArianeGroup.
Ariane 6 is currently passing a series of key milestones in Europe and in French Guiana and is said to be on a “rapid production ramp up”.
