Star One C4 and MSG-4 launch atop Ariane 5 ECA July 15th (pics heavy)

[Dkmdlb]

What a good looking rocket.

[Hcube]

What a good looking rocket.

Yeah, really !

The weather seems very overcast though, we probably won't see much of the rocket...

[MinimumSky5]

No! I just turned off my computer and my mobile won't stream the launch! Grrrr!

[Hcube]

​Liftoff !

[LittleBlueGaming]

Bookin' it.

[Crampman]

And we see...nothing... damn clouds....

[Hcube]

Everything looking pretty good !

EAP jettison !

[LittleBlueGaming]

Why are the boosters still burning after separation? Is that used to create space?

[Hcube]

Why are the boosters still burning after separation? Is that used to create space?

No, it's the remains of some propellant still burning, but so little that no more thrust EDIT : see : no more meaningful thrust is produced. the booster are actually pushed away by 4 "sepratrons" each.

Fairing sep ! nice respiration !

Edited July 15, 2015 by Hcube

[Crampman]

Why are the boosters still burning after separation? Is that used to create space?

I believe that their thrust just diminish when the get depleted, instead of just shutting down like in KSP

[kenbobo]

I want to watch a launch at the site.

[Hcube]

MECO-2minutes !

[MinimumSky5]

Solid boosters in real life slowly tail off their thrust as the propellant depletes, rather than suddenly stopping like in KSP.

[Hcube]

MECO and SEP, and then HM-7B ignition 4 seconds later ! pretty cool what a small second stage

EDIT : here goes the annoying "ads" fro the customer instead of the actual launch... grmbl

[Crampman]

The upper stage is really small... what is the ISP of the engine ? oO

EDIT

Found an ISP of 446s, not bad...

Edited July 15, 2015 by Crampman

[Hcube]

The upper stage is really small... what is the ISP of the engine ? oO

Yeah Ariane 5 is an oversized first stage that almost makes orbit by itself ! (and the SRBs). the second stage is only for GTO boost.

The HM-7B engine has an Isp of 447 seconds

EDIT : ninja'ed ! yeah it has really good isp, but ridiculously low thrust... it's around 70kN iirc

[Streetwind]

Not much of a launch to look at, due to cloud cover... but a success by the book, as expected for the most reliable heavy lifter flying today

[Hcube]

Star One C4 about to be released at (more or less) T+20 min ! i wonder if they will cover it

EDIT : french accent again... ouch

Edited July 15, 2015 by Hcube

[Crampman]

Last time I watched an ariane 5 launch they covered the separation of both satellites.

[Hcube]

ESC-A cutoff !

EDIT : wow, i thought the first separation was planned for about 20 minutes after liftoff...

EDIT 2 : the presentator saying that they "lost the signal in the libreville tracking station"... whereas the DDO was saying that the control was just transitioning... so don't worry

Release !

EDIT 3 : wow she really makes a lot of mistakes... "we can't release the other satellite under 4000km altitude" while the craft is already 11 000km high...

EDIT : i am the mistaken one in the story facepalm

(grumpy me : she made other mistakes anyway... grmbl)

Edited July 15, 2015 by Hcube

[Crampman]

1 released, 1 to go...

@Hcube : I'm reading an altitude of 2700km, did you read the distance, wich is 13000km ?

Edited July 15, 2015 by Crampman

[Hcube]

1 released, 1 to go...

@Hcube : I'm reading an altitude of 2700km, did you read the distance, wich is 13000km ?

oooh yes, i'm stupid

i can facepalm twice

[Crampman]

2nd release, let's call it a successful launch !

[Hcube]

Nice ! I'm going to bed now though took me some time to post this heads up on the forum, so i'm glad the launch was successful !

[Streetwind]

Oh hey, that actually was an anniversary and we all missed it: 50th launch of the ECA configuration.

Also its 49th consecutive success, so let's at least remember to acknowledge that anniversary next launch