Aussie, Japanese satellites launched by Europe's Ariane rocket

PARIS (AFP) Jun 12, 2003
A European Space Agency (ESA) Ariane-5 rocket was launched at the Kourou space base in French Guiana Wednesday, taking two satellites into orbit for Australian and Japanese customers, the marketing company Arianespace said here.

Liftoff was at 2238 GMT.

The satellites, which will take up slots in geostationary orbit, were the 1.275-tonne BSAT-2c for Japan's B-SAT satellite operators, and the 4.725-tonne Optus and Defence C1, whose capacity has been divided up between the Australian civilian operator Optus and the Australian Department of Defence.

Arianespace used a so-called Generic, or standard version, of the Ariane-5.

An uprated version of this rocket, the Ariane-5 ECA, capable of hoisting a 10-tonne payload into orbit, has been placed on ice after a disastrous failed maiden launch last December.

ESA is spending a total of 330 million euros (389 million dollars) to fix the ECA's design flaw, carry out other modifications and conduct two test launches of it.

SPACE.WIRE