NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Partial Failure

Artemis & BSAT-2b

Launch Time
Thu Jul 12, 2001 21:58 UTC

Upper stage underperformed, payloads were placed in a useless orbit. Artemis was raised to its target orbit at the expense of operational fuel; BSat was not recoverable. Flight V142.

Rocket

Ariane 5 G
Image Credit: Arianespace
Arianespace
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 11,400 kN
Payload to GTO: 6,900 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 2
Rocket Height: 52.0 m

Mission Details

Artemis

Artemis is a geostationary earth orbit satellite (GEOS) for telecommunications, built by Alenia Spazio for ESA. It originally reached an orbit much lower than planned (590 km x 17487 km) due to a malfunction in the launch vehicle's upper stage. It was remotely reconfigured to reach its intended station using a novel procedure.

Payloads: 5
Total Mass: 3,100.0 kg
Geostationary Transfer Orbit

BSAT-2b

BSAT-2b was a geostationary communications satellite ordered by B-SAT which was designed and manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation on the STAR-1 platform. It was designed to be stationed on the 110° East orbital slot along its companion BSAT-2a where it would provide redundant high-definition direct television broadcasting across Japan.

But the Ariane 5G rocket had an anomaly during its launch. It left BSAT-2b stranded in an orbit too low for its propulsion system to compensate and the spacecraft was written off. BSAT ordered BSAT-2c immediately to replace it. It decayed and burned in the atmosphere on January 28, 2014.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 1,317.0 kg
Medium Earth Orbit

Location

ELA-3, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana, France

Stats

2001

29th orbital launch attempt

Arianespace

130th mission
5th mission of 2001

Ariane 5

10th mission
2nd mission of 2001