Ariane rocket puts two satellites into orbit

KOUROU, French Guiana, May 5 (Reuters) A heavy-lift Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana putting into orbit two telecommunications satellites, space officials said.

The rocket was launched from Europe's space base in Kourou, on the northeast coast of South America, at 7.29 p.m. (0359 hrs IST).

High altitude winds meant the first launch attempt was scrapped on Thursday.

Billed by the Arianespace company as a cost effective launcher for large satellites, the rocket is capable of launching payloads of up to 10 metric tonnes. This adds more than three tonnes of capacity compared with the previous generation Ariane-5 in service since the mid-1990s.

Arianespace is 28 per cent owned by European aerospace giant EADS.

Twenty-seven minutes after launch, the rocket released into a preliminary orbit Astra 1L, a 4.5 metric tonne satellite designed to provide direct-to-home broadcasting throughout Europe.

Martin Halliwell, SES Astra's satellite mission director, said: ''This satellite's main job is to consolidate our fleet ...

it's an extremely important position for us, it allows us to transmit direct-to-home television to over 107 million homes.'' Astra 1L, owned by Luxembourg-based SES Astra a division of SES Global, was built in the United States by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Five minutes later Galaxy 17, designed to provide telecommunications throughout the United States for Washington-based operator Intelsat separated from the rocket.

''Galaxy 17 will be located in the most coveted orbital neighbourhood over the United States,'' Intelsat Vice President Kenneth Lee said.

Galaxy 17 weighed 4.1 metric tonnes and was built by Thales Alenia Space a joint venture company owned by France's Alcatel-Lucent and Finmeccanica.

Arianespace President Jean-Yves Le Gall said yesterday's launch placed the largest mass ever for an Ariane rocket.

''Flight after flight we are able to place more and more kilos (in orbit). We can hope to increase it by several hundred more kilos, but we are approaching our maximum capacity,'' Le Gall said.

The first launch of the Ariane-5 heavy-lift rocket in December 2002 ended in failure when it exploded in flight due to a problem in its main engine. Since then nine of the rockets have been successfully put into orbit.

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