Creaform’s engineering services expertise reaches new heights

Photo credit: Airbus Defence and Space – DirecTV 15 Satellite

Arianespace will be launching Brazilian telecommunication Embratel Star One C4 with Eumetsat MSG-4, a weather monitoring service satellite, today from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana (Flight VA224). The two satellites will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher by Arianespace, the same rocket that was used to launch DirecTV 15 last May.

DirecTV 15, the most powerful US direct-to-home (DTH) TV broadcast satellite to this day is also the largest satellite to have been built by Airbus Defense and Space so far. DirecTV 15 will provide additional digital television entertainment services for more than 20 million DirecTV customers in the Continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. This event marks the 65^th successful launch in a row of Ariane 5, the European launch vehicle for which Airbus Defense and Space is a prime contractor.

Creaform’s engineering services is proud to have contributed to that project in the analysis and mechanical design aspects of the DirecTV satellite’s electric components. The Québec-based company has worked with industry leaders in the aerospace industry which serves as a testament to its solid expertise in numerical simulations. Creaform’s team of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) experts can perform random response, thermal stress response, implicit and explicit impact response as well as complex material behaviors (highly non-linear) which is a crucial step in the preparation of the satellite for various challenges it may encounter in space.

To learn more about the Creaform engineering services expertise in aerospace, visit our website!

The Star One C-4 and MSG-4 Flight VA224 was successfully launched on July 15. You can watch the recording here!

If you want to relive the liftoff of Arianespace’s Ariane 5 with DirecTV 15, watch it here: