Ariane 5 ready to launch heavy-lift mission with Alphasat, INSAT-3D

Ariane 5 is on track for the next liftoff following the workhorse heavy-lift vehicle's rollout to the Spaceport's launch zone in French Guiana, Arianespace company announced Thursday. The launcher has India's INSAT-3D satellite installed in the lower position of its payload "stack," with Europe's Alphasat as the upper passenger. The launch window opens at 4:53 p.m. local time ( (0953 GMT) in French Guiana on July 25 and lasts for an-hour and 18-minute. After liftoff, the flight sequence will last nearly 33 minutes, with Alphasat deployed at just under 28 minutes after launch, followed by the separation of INSAT-3D five minutes later, according to the the European leading launch company, Arianespace. Alphasat is Europe's largest telecommunications satellite ever manufactured and results from a large-scale public-private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Inmarsat. It also represents the first flight model of Europe's new Alphabus high capacity satellite platform. INSAT-3D was developed by Indian space agency, it can provide meteorological observation and monitoring of land-ocean surfaces. The July 25's mission, designated Flight VA214 in Arianespace's launcher family numbering system, will be the 214th launch since operations began with the Ariane series of vehicles in 1979, as well as the 70th flight for the heavy-lift Ariane 5 version.