The launch vehicle for Arianespace’s first mission of 2016 has received its payload, as the initial Intelsat EpicNG high-throughput satellite has been mated to the Ariane 5 at the Spaceport in French Guiana.
During activity in the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building, this spacecraft – designated Intelsat 29e – was installed atop the launcher yesterday, a step which is to be followed by its encapsulation in the ogive-shaped protective payload fairing.
