Photo: BT News
Parts of an aircraft washed ashore at Cattlewash yesterday. The metal object which was about eight feet in length was painted white with yellow, blue and black inscriptions, and a logo.
Inscription seen were "11-12", and "nespace solutions" on its surface. A Google search discovered this to be part of the Ariane 5 which is a European heavy lift vehicle and is part of the Ariane rocket family.
According to the Ariane website the most recent launches of its craft was on January 27, 2016 - Flight VA228 carrying a payload of Intelstat 29e, and Flight VA227 on November 10, 2015 which carried a payload of Arabstat-6B, GSTAT-15.
The Ariane 5's lift-off was scheduled for January 27 during a night-time launch window that opened at 8:20 p.m. local time in French Guiana and continued until 9:40 p.m. French Guiana is located on the South American mainland with Guyana.
The Boeing-built Intelsat 29e payload is Intelsat's initial next-generation high-throughput EpicNG-series satellite. It will provide high-throughput Ku-band spot beams over the Americas to meet broadband demand for carrier-grade telecommunications and enterprise connectivity, as well as Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean coverage for highly-used aviation and shipping routes.