Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Ariane 5 rocket launch explosion

The first launch of the Ariane 5 rocket launch ended spectacularly with a malfunction seconds after lift off that resulted in the destruction of the vehicle.

Cluster (spacecraft) - Wikipedia

European satellite constellation studying Earth's magnetosphere; cornerstone mission in the ESA Science Programme; failed upon launch Cluster was a constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft which were launched on the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 rocket, Flight 501, and subsequently lo...

Cluster

Overview

Destination: High Earth Orbit
Mission: Earth Science

High Earth Orbit Ariane Launch Area 3 Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

A constellation of four ESA spacecraft. These were intended to fly in a tetrahedral formation, and was inteded to conduct research into the Earth's magnetosphere.

Ariane 5 G

Family:
Configuration: G

The original version is dubbed Ariane 5 G (Generic) and had a launch mass of 737 tonnes. Its payload capability to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) was 6,900 kg (15,200 lb) for a single satellite or 6,100 kg (13,400 lb) for dual launches. It flew 17 times with one failure and two partial failures.

Specifications
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    57.0 m
  • Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Launch Mass
    737.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Ariane 5 G
  • Family
  • Variant
    G
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Ariane 5 G
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    12200.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    6900.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup

(AG)

CEO: Christophe Bruneau Founded: 2015 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aerospace, defence and security.

INFO WIKI
ESA

Cluster reentry explained: world's first targeted reentry

The first of four satellites that make up ESA’s Cluster mission is coming safely back down to Earth, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.

ESA

Goodnight, Cluster: brilliant end to trailblazing mission

The first satellite in ESA’s Cluster quartet safely came back down to Earth last night in a world-first ‘targeted reentry’, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 3


Long March 2D
Success
7 hours, 4 minutes ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Electron
Success
14 hours, 32 minutes ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 days, 1 hour ago
Glonass-K1 No. 20 (?)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Satellite serial number and Cosmos designation not confirmed. Glonass-K are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite n…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 15 hours ago
SpaceTY-51 & 52
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation radar satellites built by the Chinese satellite manufacturer SpaceTY.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 16 hours ago
USSF-259
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 25
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
3 days, 4 hours ago
Progress MS-35 (96P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Gravity-1
Success
3 days, 19 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
4 days, 11 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Vega-C
Success
4 days, 16 hours ago
Sentinel-3C & FLEX
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and lan…