spacetoday.net: Ariane launches two satellites

Ariane launches two satellites

Posted: Tue, Apr 28, 2015, 8:42 AM ET (1242 GMT)
Ariane 5 launch of Sicral 2 and Thor 7, April 2015 (Arianespace)

An Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched two satellites on Sunday. The Ariane 5 lifted off at 4:00 pm EDT (2000 GMT) and released the Sicral 2 and Thor 7 satellites into geostationary transfer orbits a half-hour later. Sicral 2, a 4,400-kilogram satellite built by Thales Alenia Space for the militaries of France and Italy, will provide UHF and SHF communications services. The 4,600-kilogram Thor 7, built by Space Systems Loral for Telenor, will provide Ka- and Ku-band communications services from 0.8 degrees west in GEO for the Norwegian operator. The launch was originally planned for mid-April but delayed twice because of two separate technical problems.