Flight 131 Mission Update – Arianespace adapts its launch campaign to meet a customer’s needs

Arianespace’s capability to react to the requirements of its customers is being demonstrated once again as the launch campaign for Flight 131 is kept on schedule even as last minute fixes are made to one of the mission’s two payloads.
 
Changes in the launch campaign schedule will enable a strut to be replaced on the Brasilsat B4 satellite while Arianespace maintains the August 17 liftoff date for Flight 131.
 
The launch campaign changes include compressing certain activities originally planned for separate days into a single workday, and adjusting the schedule of final mission preparations – all without compromising quality control or skipping any steps in validating the Ariane 4 launcher for flight.
 
The need to replace Brasilsat B4’s support strut was advised by the satellite’s technical team last week.
 
As a result, the satellite was not ready to enter the combined operations phase as originally scheduled last week. The combined operations phase is one of the launch campaign’s last steps, during which the mission’s satellites are mounted on their launcher adapters, encapsulated in the payload fairing and then transferred to the launch zone for integration on the Ariane 4.
 
A new strut for Brasilsat B4 was flown to French Guiana by a special charter aircraft on August 3, with the swap-out performed beginning on Friday, August 4 and continuing into the weekend.
 
Jean-Marc Artaud, Arianespace’s mission manager for Flight 131, said the combined operations phase is set to begin today, with the new schedule calling for the Brasilsat B4 and Egyptian Nilesat 102 satellites to be integrated on the launch vehicle August 11.
 
Nilesat 102 completed its final checkout and fuelling last week, and has been on standby since the evening of August 3.
 
Flight 131’s Ariane 4 remains in the launch zone, ready to receive its two satellite payloads. The vehicle’s two solid propellant strap-on boosters were installed on the first stage August 2 and 3, joining the two liquid strap-ons that had been mated to the vehicle earlier in the campaign.
 
Artaud said the Ariane 4’s launch countdown rehersal was performed August 4, confirming the vehicle’s readiness for flight.