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The European launch vehicle Ariane 5 was launched for the last time. On board is the German satellite “Heinrich Hertz”. In its nearly 30-year history, the rocket has performed many important missions. A review.
By David Beck and Julia Thomas, SWR
The era of the European launch vehicle Ariane 5 ends with launch 117. During the night, Ariane 5 took off for the last time from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It’s bringing two satellites into space.
A good reason to remember the story of Ariane 5 – a story that didn’t start out very successfully.
Ariane 5 rocket maiden flight failed
On June 4, 1996, the first Ariane 5 took off from Kourou on its maiden flight. But just under 40 seconds after launch, the rocket exploded over the rainforest. The cause: a programming error that caused the data to incorrectly show a sharp change in the rocket’s course. The flight computer then initiated an extreme corrective maneuver, during which two boosters ripped off the side of the rocket and the rocket initiated its self-destruct mechanism.
The second start was only half successful. The rocket’s upper stage did not reach full power, and the satellites on board Ariane 5 entered a very low orbit.
Bearer of many scientific missions
After that, however, the success rate increased sharply. Starting in 1998, Ariane 5 launched several satellites, including important scientific missions. One of them is “Rosetta”. This mission was the first time a spacecraft had landed on a comet. Since 2018, the probe “BepiColombo” has been on its way to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. It is scheduled to arrive there in 2025 and collect information about the planet’s surface, magnetic field and core.
In late 2021, an Ariane 5 sent the James Webb Space Telescope on its journey, with such precision and fuel economy that the telescope’s mission run time could likely be more than doubled. And “Juice,” a probe that was supposed to look for signs of life on Jupiter’s icy moons, among other things, was safely launched into space by an Ariane 5 in April 2023.
A German satellite in the last launch
With its latest launch, Ariane 5 places the communications satellites “Syracuse 4B” and “Heinrich Hertz” into Earth orbit. “Heinrich Hertz” is the first communications satellite to be developed entirely in Germany in twenty years. It is about the size of a minibus and is expected to spend 15 years in space.
During this time, “Heinrich Hertz” will test new technologies for satellite communication in space. Because in orbit there is a high level of radiation and temperatures fluctuate between extreme values. About 20 experiments in communication, antenna and satellite technology are on board the satellite.
In addition, “Heinrich Hertz” will serve as a relay station. It can relay signals from other satellites and thus maintain its contact time with ground stations longer.
The satellite is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who first demonstrated electromagnetic waves in Karlsruhe in 1886 and thus helped modern communication technology achieve a breakthrough. His name is best known for the “Hertz” unit that bears his name, in which frequencies are specified.
a smart satellite
What is special about the “Heinrich Hertz” satellite is that it can be developed in space – you can reprogram it, so to speak. Normally, the functions of satellites cannot be changed once they are placed in orbit. “Heinrich Hertz” can, for example, change its transmitting and receiving frequency, redirect its antennas and thus adjust the region from which data can be received and transmitted.
“With this great flexibility, it is also possible, for example, to support disaster scenarios,” says Jens Müller of TU Ilmenau, who helped develop the satellite’s telecommunications component. first we had to complain about the loss of the telecommunications structure.” In such cases, satellites like the “Heinrich Hertz”, which can be used flexibly, could help to quickly rebuild the communication channels.
Ariane 6 operational by the end of 2023
The Ariane 5 era ends with the launch of the “Heinrich Hertz”. Its successor, the Ariane 6, should be ready for launch at the end of 2023. According to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the new rocket should be more powerful, more flexible and cheaper than the previous version.
Two different models of Ariane 6 were developed to launch lighter and very small satellites into space: one with two and one with four solid propellants. The new carrier rocket must be able to carry up to eleven tons of cargo in geostationary orbit – double that of Ariane 5. With Ariane 6, the European space community wants to guarantee its independent access to space and continue to carry its own missions into space . earth orbit.