Heinrich Hertz will then have arrived at an altitude of approximately 36,000 kilometres in the equatorial plane and will always be situated above the same point on Earth's surface. This is located a little south of Ghana in the Atlantic Ocean. The Heinrich Hertz mission is being managed by the German Space Agency at German Aerospace Center on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and with the participation of the Federal Ministry of Defence.
"With the final lift off of an Ariane 5 launch vehicle, an era in this sector is coming to an end, while a new one in German satellite communications is beginning. The Heinrich Hertz mission will put German industry in a position to compete on an equal footing in international telecommunications. With its systems capability in the highly competitive communications satellite market, Germany is taking a decisive step towards shaping its own programmes in this sector and qualifying for a leading role in European programmes such as the IRIS connectivity initiative," emphasises Walther Pelzer, Member of the DLR Executive Board and Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR.
Heinrich Hertz mission - enhancing Germany as a location for space activities
The Heinrich Hertz mission is providing a significant stimulus to the telecommunications satellite market in Germany and the country's position a leading technology location. The prime contractor and system integrator is OHB System AG in Bremen, while Tesat-Spacecom GmbH and Co. KG in Backnang is responsible for payload integration. In addition, 40 further industrial and research partners were involved. The development of this supplier ecosystem benefits the space economy in Germany in all its diversity. In addition, numerous European companies are involved in the project.
The findings from the Heinrich Hertz mission, together with other technological developments, can also be transferred to smaller, low-flying satellites, which are manufactured cost-effectively and in series production. The Heinrich Hertz mission is also an important step in the field of what are referred to as smart satellites. The results of the mission can help to further advance the increased flexibility and digitalisation of satellite communications technologies and prepare for contemporary topics such as artificial intelligence, quantum communications and flexible antenna technology for megaconstellations.
Ariane 5 - a legend retires
What will end with the launch of the Heinrich Hertz mission began 27 years ago. On 4 June 1996, the first launch marked the birth of Ariane 5. While the first flight was a false start, Ariane 5 developed over the following 27 years into one of the most reliable and safest launch vehicles, with 111 successful launches to date out of a total of 116.
Thus, Ariane 5 was the guarantor of Europe's independent access to space for almost three decades. With the launch of the space telescopes XMM-Newton (1999) as well as Herschel and Planck (2009), the exploration of the origin and development of the universe could be significantly advanced.
Ariane 5 launched Rosetta and Philae (2004), the first mission ever to make a soft landing on a comet. The launching of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle space transporters (ATV-1 to ATV-5) ensured the delivery of supplies to the International Space Station from 2008 to 2015 and also helped to pave the way for Europe's participation in the Artemis programme.
In addition, Ariane 5 put ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft on course for Jupiter on 14 April 2023. But it is not only institutional launches that have sent the workhorse of European spaceflight into space. Almost 150 commercial satellites and twelve Galileo satellites were safely and reliably launched with Ariane 5.
"Ariane 5 is the most successful European launch vehicle. The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope makes this particularly clear. NASA entrusted us Europeans with launching the largest and most expensive space telescope of all time. And Ariane 5 launched James Webb with such pinpoint accuracy that the telescope needed to use significantly less of its own propellants to reach its target location. This will make it possible for scientists to take measurements with the telescope for much longer than the planned ten years. In order to continue this success story of the Ariane launcher and to maintain Europe's access to space, we must now start Ariane 6 operations as quickly as possible," says Walther Pelzer.
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