@michaelgemar@spaceflight well, it actually shouldn't be too hard, if you go beyond the surface. Right now, SpaceX profits primarily from a lack of competition. The EELV era is over, just like the Ariane 5 era, the successors delayed. For at least 5 years, SpaceX only had to fear Russia entering the western launch market again. #SpaceX#Arianespace#unitedlaunchalliance
The only thing that's makes this launch a success is the Separation of the satellites, then we all witnessed a part of Europes space flight history.
Im sad but also very happy, and of course I wonder what great missions are ahead with the Ariane 6❤️ 🇪🇺 💪🏾
Just moments ago, a piece of history: liftoff of the final ever flight of an Ariane 5 rocket, the 117th in the series, VA261 carrying the Heinrich-Hertz satellite & Syracuse 4B to space 🚀
Such an important launcher for ESA science over the decades, lifting XMM-Newton, Rosetta, Herschel, Planck, BepiColombo, JWST, & JUICE on the first part of their journeys of discovery 🙇♂️
The venerable Ariane 5 rocket will lift off for a last time, from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the French Syracuse 4B military satellite and German Heinrich Hertz satellite to geostationary transfer orbit.
Launch window: 1800-1905 EDT / 2200-2305 UTC.
After a string of 111 successful launches, Ariane 5 will be replaced by the lower-cost Ariane 6, scheduled for its maiden voyage in late 2023 or early 2024.
Ariane 5, on its final mission, has successfully deployed the two satellites into GTO.
After 25 years of excellence, Ariane 5 now passes the baton to Ariane 6.
Here is a graphic showing the trajectory from the elliptical Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO) to the final circular geo-synchronous orbit.
When the payload reaches the apogee at the GEO altitude of 35,786 km, it fires its engines in such a way that it enters onto the circular GEO orbit and stays there.
Typically, the payload is entered into an orbit slightly below GEO, and then raised when it reaches its final orbital slot position.
The Director General of the German 🇩🇪 #SpaceAgency revealed that funding for the #launcher competition will be in the same region as the 361 million Euro 💰 a year from 📆 2026 onwards for future #Ariane 6 (340 million) and #VegaC (21 million) launches that #ESA has agreed on. For the first phase, a projected three companies will compete with each other for funding of 75 million euros 💶 from the agency’s 📆 2022 budget https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/paradigm-shift-european-spaceflight/
#Irrational escalation of #commitment is reflected in such proverbial images as "throwing good money after bad", or "In for a penny, in for a pound", or "It's never the wrong time to make the right decision", or "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment