Ariane rocket to launch satellite for Indonesia

Ariane rocket to launch satellite for Indonesia

PARIS (Reuters): An Ariane rocket is due to blast off from French Guiana on Wednesday carrying an Indonesian telecommunications satellite -- the first Ariane mission since April, the company Arianespace said on Tuesday.

Some launches have been delayed because satellite makers were unable to deliver their payloads on time, specialists said.

An Ariane 42P rocket with two solid strap-on boosters will aim to put the TELKOM 1 satellite into orbit for Indonesia's Telecomunikasi Indonesia, the 118th launch of an Ariane rocket by the West European company.

The launch is set for between 2240 GMT Wednesday (5.40 AM Indonesian Western Time Thursday) and 0047 GMT Thursday from the European Space Agency launch center in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America.

The 2.8 ton satellite will provide telecommunications services throughout Indonesia's 17,000 islands.

Built in the United States by Lockheed Martin Communications and Space, it was originally due to be launched aboard the first commercial Ariane-5 rocket along with another satellite.

But delays in the delivery of the second satellite led Arianespace to launch TELKOM 1 alone aboard an Ariane-4 rocket.

Wednesday's launch is Arianespace's third this year. The company had planned to launch 13 rockets in 1999, but industry analysts said repeated delays in the delivery of satellites made it unlikely the firm would be able to achieve this objective.