Ariane 5

Eutelsat internet satellite launched aboard Ariane 5 rocket

A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from Kourou, French Guiana, with the Eutelsat Konnect VHTS broadband satellite. Credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron A powerful Eutelsat commercial communications satellite launched Wednesday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, heading into orbit on a mission expected to last more than 15 years to provide broadband connectivity …

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High-power European broadband satellite set for launch from French Guiana

The Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite during testing at a Thales Alenia Space facility in Cannes, France. Credit: Thales Alenia Space An Ariane 5 rocket is set to blast off Wednesday from French Guiana — a day later than planned due to a poor weather forecast Tuesday — with a Eutelsat-owned satellite designed to beam broadband …

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Ariane 5 rocket deploys satellites for Malaysia and India

A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from the Guiana Space Center with the MEASAT 3d and GSAT 24 satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/JM Guillon Two multi-ton geostationary communications satellites for Malaysian and Indian operators launched on a European heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday from French Guiana, leaving four Ariane 5s left to fly before retirement. With …

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Arianespace preps for first Ariane 5 launch of the year

An Ariane 5 rocket on its launch pad Tuesday evening at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron Two geostationary communications satellites for India’s space agency and a Malaysian company will rocket into orbit from the jungle of South America on Wednesday on a European-built Ariane 5 launcher. The launch window Wednesday opens at …

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Webb telescope completes first course correction burn, deploys main antenna

  A view of the circular high-gain antenna in its stowed position on the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now The James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for the first time late Saturday to line up for course toward an observing post nearly a million miles from Earth, then …

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Webb telescope finally leaves Earth in search of light from first galaxies

An Ariane 5 rocket, propelled by a main engine and two solid-fueled boosters, leaps off the pad at the Guiana Space Center with the James Webb Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope, a NASA-led international collaboration that took nearly 30 years and $10 billion to get to the launch pad, finally left Earth with …

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Webb’s fate hinges on high-risk sunshade, mirror deployments

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION If you want to see the faint, stretched-out light from the first stars and galaxies that began shining at the end of the cosmic dark ages a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, you’re going to need a big telescope. But not just any big telescope. …

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Europe’s spaceport, flagship launcher ready for historic Webb mission

An Ariane 5 rocket reaches the ELA-3 launch zone Thursday at the Guiana Space Center, the final port of call for the James Webb Space Telescope before it ascends into orbit. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja Teams in French Guiana positioned a European Ariane 5 rocket into its starting blocks Thursday, ready for liftoff Christmas morning with …

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Webb will take next leap in search for habitable worlds

Artist’s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope in its deployed configuration. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Beginning next year, the James Webb Space Telescope will scan a sampling of the nearly 5,000 alien worlds discovered around other stars to help astronomers identify which of the rocky planets might have atmospheres that could sustain life. When scientists …

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Webb telescope is a ‘time machine’ for astronomers to see the cosmic dawn

The James Webb Space Telescope inside Northrop Grumman’s factory in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: Northrop Grumman The James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch in the coming days, will look back more than 13.5 billion years in time to see the faint infrared light from the first galaxies, revealing a previously unseen era of cosmic …

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