Due to the unfavorable weather conditions currently observed over the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, Arianespace has decided to delay the launch – planned for October 4, 2016 – by 24 hours.
Flight VA231 will place into geostationary transfer orbit the Sky MusterTM II and GSAT-18 telecommunications satellites.
As the weather forecast for tomorrow is favorable, the liftoff of the Ariane 5 is now planned for Wednesday, October 5, 2016, as early as possible within the following launch window:
- Between 05:30 p.m. and 06:45 p.m., Kourou time
- Between 04:30 p.m. and 05:45 p.m., Washington D.C. time
- Between 20:30 and 21:45, Universal Time (UTC)
- Between 10:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., Paris time
- Between 02:00 a.m. and 03:15 a.m., Bangalore, India time on October 6
- Between 07:30 a.m. and 08:45 a.m., Sydney, Australia time on October 6.
The launcher, with its Sky MusterTM II and GSAT-18 satellite payloads, remains in a safe standby condition.
LANCEMENT VA231 - Sky MusterTM II et GSAT-18 : REPORT DE 24 HEURES EN RAISON DE LA METEO
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