This week’s Ariane 5 ES flight with 4 Galileo satellites has been approved.
Following a launch readiness review, liftoff is scheduled for 08:25:01 local (11:25:01 UTC) on 25 July from the Spaceport in French Guiana. The review validated the ‘go’ status of the Ariane launcher and its Galileo payloads, as well as the launch site infrastructure and the network of tracking stations.
Arianespace Flight VA244 will deploy the Galileo FOC-M8 satellites 23, 24, 25 & 26 after a 3h 56m 54s flight.
Each satellite has a lift-off mass of ~740 kg and will be injected into a medium Earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude of 22,922km and inclination of 56º. To achieve this, the Ariane 5’s upper stage will perform 2 separate burns.
This will be the third Ariane 5 mission carrying European Galileo satellites, following previous launches in November 2016 and December 2017. Prior to these, Arianespace launched 14 Galileo satellites on 7 Soyuz missions between October 2011 and May 2016.
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