Ariane 5 flight VA205 and ATV Edoardo Amaldi ready for launch. Photo: ESA

[Via Satellite 01-05-2016] Following 11 successful launches in 2016, Arianespace reported on Jan. 4 that the launch company expects to maintain a sustained launch pace in 2017, with 12 planned launches.

The launch schedule will include up to seven launches with Ariane 5: Six Ariane 5 ECA launchers carrying satellites into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) for global or regional operators and one Ariane 5 ES, which will orbit four more Galileo satellites for the European Commission and European Space Agency (ESA) in the second half of the year.

The company is also planning three launches with its Vega spacecraft, which will inject four Earth observation satellites into sun-synchronous orbit. The Vega launches will include two single launches: Sentinel 2B, for the Copernicus program led by the European Commission and ESA; and an atmospheric dynamics mission, ADM-Aeolus, for ESA. It will also include one dual launch: OPTSAT 3000 on behalf of CGS and Telespazio for the Italian defense ministry/VENµS for the Israeli space agency and CNES.

Last, there will be two launches by Soyuz, which will carry out its first missions from CSG into GTO, for the Hispasat HAG 1/H36G and SES 15 satellites.

Alongside Starsem, Arianespace is also actively gearing up for the deployment of the OneWeb constellation, with an initial launch planned as early as the first half of 2018.