Posted on 02/12/2005 3:11:55 PM PST by freespeech20
Feb. 12 -- Arianespace, the European rocket launch venture, said it launched its first Ariane 5 ECA rocket, more than a year after a failed initial attempt to fire off the model, the group's most powerful.
The rocket, sent up from Arianespace's Kourou, French Guyana, space center, put two satellites into orbit. They are the XTAR- EUR orbiter, the first commercial satellite to deliver X-band services that will provide government and military communications for the U.S. and Spain, and a dummy payload for the European Space Agency.
The group's newest rocket will help Evry, France-based Arianespace guard dominance in the commercial-launch market, where the size of telecommunications satellites is increasing and requires increasingly powerful rockets.
European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co., Arianespace's biggest corporate owner with a 30 percent stake, expects the venture's increasing profitability to help turn around EADS's space division, which also includes the wholly owned Astrium satellite maker.
The venture had losses from 2000 through 2002 as launch prices fell because of competition with Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and other companies. Telecommunications-industry mergers also reduced satellite-network expansions. Arianespace said on Jan. 4 that it probably broke even in 2004 as revenue growth was offset by spending on new building projects.
Two or Three Launches
Arianespace Chief Executive Officer Jean-Yves Le Gall said in Paris in January that the group this year expects to achieve two or three launches of the Ariane 5 ECA, which can carry as much as 10.5 metric tons (11.6 tons), and another three or four of the current, less-powerful Ariane 5 model.
Today's Ariane 5 ECA launch was rescheduled from Feb. 11 after initial tests found an ``anomaly'' in ground equipment, Arianespace said on its Web site, without giving details.
The first time Arianespace tried to launch the Ariane 5 ECA in December 2003, the rocket had to be blown up over the ocean three minutes after liftoff after going off course.
The problem was later blamed on cracks in the rocket's cooling tubes that led to the engine nozzle overheating, causing a loss of control over the launcher's trajectory. Independent access to space has been the driving force behind Europe's space program which is funded largely by France.
Heavy lift maybe, but still has less lift capacity than the Saturn V the US built and flew 40 years ago.
Good for them. We are facing some serious competition.
Here's a picture of the "Dummy Payload" for the European Space Agency.
Would you trust launching your 600 million dollar satellite on a French rocket?
Yeah, but we're not building Saturn V's anymore. Incompetent NASA rides again.
More's the pity.
What needs to be launched? Several city buses at once?
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