back to article Europe's Earth-watching sat rides Soyuz to orbit

Europe's Sentinel-1B satellite thundered aloft yesterday from Kourou, French Guiana, en route to its Earth-monitoring role as part of the Copernicus environmental monitoring network. The Soyuz lifter departed the launchpad at 21:02 GMT. Some 23 minutes later, Sentinel-1B separated from the rocket's Fregat upper stage to …

  1. ChunkyMonkey
    Thumb Up

    Ha, North Korea

    That's how it's done

  2. Alister

    "Micro-Satellite à traînée Compensée pour l'Observation du Principe d'Equivalence", aka Microscope

    Nice acronym, it's a good thing it was in French or it wouldn't have worked...

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Stroke of luck, wasn't it?

  3. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Pint

    Every time I see a rocket lauch

    it reminds me of the Apollo era of my youth, and puts a smile on my face. Wonderful really to see a Soyuz lift off a western satellite. It shows that despite the troubles we still have, differences can be overcome.

    You could of course argue that free market forces simply made the Soyuz the best bang (or actually, "not bang", the last thing they want to see is a rocket go bang) for your buck. However, in 1969, as I sat watching the moon landing WAY past my normal bedtime, these free market forces weren't allowed to work.

    So, I'll raise a pint to the successful launch, and further collaboration (there are worse causes).

    À votre santé!

    and

    Поехали!

    1. anothercynic Silver badge

      Re: Every time I see a rocket lauch

      Well, Europe doesn't quite have the all-or-nothing kind of sanctions that the US likes to go for...

      When it's for science, they (ESA and Arianespace) are happy to work with Roscosmos. Science transcends borders. It helps to be pragmatic. :-)

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        Re: Every time I see a rocket lauch

        > Well, Europe doesn't quite have the all-or-nothing kind of sanctions that the US likes to go for...

        Yup, and it's really hurting the US. The Europeans are developing "ITAR-free" hardware guaranteed to be free of American made parts. This means they can deal with the Chinese or Indians without problems. It also means Europe bones up on things it's weak at making, like large deployable antennas.

        As an American citizen, I didn't know US satellites can't be launched by the Indians at ISRO. WTF?

        "ITAR-free sells"

        http://spacenews.com/u-s-itar-satellite-export-regimes-effects-still-strong-in-europe/

  4. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    > Kourou, French Guiana

    > Multistage Soyuz

    > Arianespace rocket

    Holy reentering Kerbals, that's actually amazing.

    Did they set up a whole Russian launch infrastructure, complete with Russian-gauged trains and all?

    1. Vulch

      Don't know about the rail gauge, but basically yes. The Soyuz units are shipped in and assembled horizontally as at Baikonour, Peseltsk and (soon) Vostochny, then wheeled out and the payload added when vertical.

      1. Anonymous Coward
  5. Mario Becroft
    Flame

    союз v. Ariane

    I must say I am also curious about the economics of setting up an entire союз launch infrastructure. Why are they not simply using Ariane launchers--are союз and Ariane suited for different mission profiles?

    Or did Russia lease the facility and set up the infrastructure themselves, competing on cost with alternatives?

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: союз v. Ariane

      Soyuz has a lifting capability between the Vega and Ariane, so it fills the payload gap.

  6. OrientalHero

    Nice to see the video using the official Register units of mass.

    22 buses (presumably Red Routemaster London ones!) of payload.

    And yes, wonderful to see international collaboration even if it is on a free market basis.

  7. Mage Silver badge

    The Worlds première space port.

    In terms of Satellite launches is European.

    Though physically in South America. Near the equator is good as having lots of sea on the east if the launch goes wrong.

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: The Worlds première space port.

      From good old Wikipedia: "Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°10'. The near-equatorial launch location provides an advantage for launches to low-inclination (or geostationary) Earth orbits compared to launches from spaceports at higher latitude. For example, the eastward boost provided by the Earth's rotation is about 463 m/s (1,035 miles per hour) at the Guiana Space Centre vis-à-vis about 406 m/s (908 miles per hour) at the United States east coast Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center spaceports which are at 28°27′N latitude in Florida.[6][7] The proximity to the equator also makes maneuvering satellites for geosynchronous orbits simpler and less costly."

  8. Wemb

    Oh pah! What sort of person cuts the video directly _before_ the booster cut out and Korolev's cross?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Remove editor from premises!

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