Ariane rocket lifts 'Cakrawarta' communication satellite
Ariane rocket lifts 'Cakrawarta' communication satellite
KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters): Western Europe's 102nd Ariane rocket lifted communications satellites including Indonesia's Cakrawarta-1 and Sweden's Sirius-2 into orbit Wednesday after a textbook launch from equatorial French Guiana.
The Ariane 44L rocket equipped with four liquid strap-on boosters -- the most powerful of the Ariane-4 rocket series -- took off from the European Space Agency launch center in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America.
The rocket rose into a cloudy equatorial sky and was visible from the ground for more than four minutes. The mission had been delayed for two days because of high altitude winds.
Twenty-two minutes after lift-off, space officials said the Sirius-2 satellite separated from the Ariane rocket. The 2.9 ton satellite will provide direct television broadcast services to Scandinavia and northern Europe for Stockholm-based Nodiska Satellit AktieBolaget. GE Americom holds a 50 percent stake. It was built by France's Aerospatiale.
Four minutes later Cakrawarta-1, a direct television broadcast satellite to service Indonesia's 17,000 islands and nearby southeast Asian countries, separated from the rocket.
Built for Jakarta-based PT Medicatra Indostar, the satellite cost $173 million including launch and insurance, Indostar president Peter Gontha said.
Prime contractor for the 1.4 ton satellite was Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia.
Wednesday's mission was the 30th consecutive success of an Ariane-4 rocket.
On Oct. 30, the second new generation Ariane-5 rocket was successfully launched from Kourou. A first attempt to launch the more powerful Ariane-5 in June 1996 failed.
The Paris-based Arianespace company that launches the current Ariane-4 rocket series said it had on order firm contracts to launch 41 heavy satellites worth an estimated $3.4 billion.
The world market for commercial space services -- rockets, satellites and ground stations -- is expected to exceed $30 billion this year and double by 2000.