Arianespace has taken delivery of its second Ariane 5 ECA for launch in 2009, receiving the heavy-lift vehicle for installation of two spacecraft that will study the universe's origins.
The Ariane 5 was delivered by industrial prime contractor EADS Astrium Space Transportation, which assembled the vehicle inside the Launcher Integration Building at Europe's Spaceport.
This Ariane 5's handover occurred yesterday (March 9) when it was transferred to the Spaceport's Final Assembly Building, where Arianespace took over responsibility for payload integration and the final launch operations.
To be lofted by Ariane 5 on the upcoming April 16 mission are the European Space Agency's Herschel space telescope and Planck observatory.
Planck will measure the temperature variations across the Big Bang's relic radiation – which is known as the cosmic microwave background. Built by a Thales Alenia Space-led industrial team, Planck will measure the temperature variations across this microwave background with much better detail than any previous spacecraft – providing astronomers with an unprecedented view of the universe's first moments and the formation of galaxies. The observatory will have a liftoff mass of approximately 1,900 kg. For its launch by Ariane 5.
The 3,300-kg. Herschel telescope will yield new data on how stars and galaxies are formed, as well as offer insights on how they continue to evolve. This spacecraft also was built under the responsibility of Thales Alenia Space, and it will have a mass at launch of about 3,300 kg.
Both Herschel and Planck are to follow transfer trajectories for a 1.5 million-kilometer voyage to the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system, where they will conduct their space science missions.
The planned April 16 flight will be Arianespace's second Ariane 5 mission of 2009, with a total of seven launches targeted this year with the workhorse vehicle.
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