According to a poster on our French forum, the launch is delayed. No more infos as for now.http://www.forum-conquete-spatiale.fr/t15190p30-lancement-soyouz-vs06-gaia-date-a-venir
Peter B. de Selding @pbdesArianespace: Ariane 5 (Hispasat & SES sats) moved up to Dec. 6 given ESA's Gaia delay, and Gaia moves back to Dec. 20. All home for Xmas.
"Taking into account our European partners' plans to launch the first commercial Vega rocket in February 2014, and meeting them halfway, we've moved to the current year the delivery of the first commercial engine, which had been scheduled for March 2014 under the contract,"
Arianespace, the world's leading launch services company, and Astrium, the world's second leading space technology company, have signed a contract for 18 additional Ariane 5 ECA launchers, worth more than 2 billion euros. These 18 new Ariane 5 rockets will be launched starting in 2017, following the 35 launchers that were already ordered in 2009, in the PB batch.
This latest order brings the number of Ariane 5 launchers under construction or on order to 38. It ensures that Arianespace's customers will enjoy continued launch services from the Guiana Space Center until the end of the decade. The contract announced today follows the framework contract signed by Arianespace on September 17, 2013, which already enabled Astrium and its partners to start procurement of long-lead items, and begin production of the new launchers.
Two new launches for Vega Evry, December 17, 2013Arianespace announced today that it has signed a contract to launch two satellites into low Earth orbit. These launches will be carried out by two Vega launch vehicles, operating from the Guiana Space Center in 2017 and 2018.Following the contract signature, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël said: "After its first two missions, both 100 percent successful, our Vega launcher is now established as the benchmark for launching government or commercial payloads into low Earth orbit. The contract signed today clearly shows that the international space community understands the advantages offered by our launch system." http://www.arianespace.com/news-press-release/2013/12-17-2013-Vega-contract.asp
Q: Your small-satellite launcher, Vega, has launched twice. Is the 10 additional Vega rockets you just ordered big enough to bring down the unit cost to where it needs to be for world markets?A: The size of the order was an important element to encourage Vega’s prime contractor, ELV, to commit to prices that are near the market price. We took only a limited risk since of the 10 launchers, eight are already dedicated to missions that are about to be added to our backlog.So there is some remaining risk for two launches. Our goal for Vega is to arrive at a cadence at two or three launches per year.
OMG! SES should fine Arianespace for the long delay on Astra 5B.
Arianespace’s current order book provides payloads for up to 14 launch opportunities in 2014, with the actual number of missions to reflect the availability of satellites. “Our objective is 12 missions, composed of six Ariane 5 launches, four Soyuz missions and two Vega flights,”