CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two Japanese satellites are destined to take their ride into space flying on separate European rockets launched from French Guiana during the next year or so, mission managers announced this week.
First to fly at some point later this year on an Ariane 5 rocket will be a space technology experiment known as LDREX. The research mission is being conducted by the National Space Development Agency (
NASDA), which is Japan's official government space agency. No launch date has been set.
NASDA is sending this satellite into orbit to test a half-sized version of a new type of very large unfolding satellite antenna. The full-sized version of this new antenna is scheduled to be used on the agency's Engineering Test Satellite targeted for launch in 2003.
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| An Arianespace Ariane 4 rocket lifts off on time at 8:29 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 18, 2000 (0029 Wednesday GMT) from the Guiana Space Center.
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The second contract signed will lead to a launch some time in late 2001, when either an Ariane 4 or Ariane 5 rocket will haul a communications satellite into orbit for the
JSAT Corporation, Japan's leading commercial satellite-services provider. Known as JCSAT 8, the satellite is to be built by Hughes Space and Communications Company of El Segundo, California.
This mission will mark the fourth time JSAT has launched its satellites on an Ariane rocket and the seventh time that Hughes has built a satellite for the company, which on April 1 changed its name from Japan Satellite Systems, Inc. to JSAT Corporation.
Presiding at the contract-signing ceremony were JSAT Corporation president Takuya Yoshida,
Arianespace chairman Jean-Marie Luton and Hughes Space and Communications president Tig Krekel.
Aerospace leaders from Japan, France and the United States met in Tokyo on April 18, 2000 and signed a launch services contract for the JCSAT 8 satellite to fly from South America on an Ariane rocket. Inking the deal were JSAT Corporation president Takuya Yoshida (left) and Arianespace chairman Jean-Marie Luton.
For Arianespace, the French-based commercial-launch firm that flies from the Guiana Space Center in South America, the JCSAT 8 and LDREX contracts continue a long relationship between the aerospace communities of Europe and Japan.
"Arianespace has been chosen to launch 17 of Japan’s 23 commercial satellites, and we are proud of our 14-year contribution to the development of satellite telecommunications in Japan," Arianespace's Luton said in a prepared statement.
The Japanese space agency's LDREX spacecraft is seen here in its fully-deployed configuration. The satellite is to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in 2000 and will test a half-scale version of a new type of unfolding antenna that will see use on a future satellite.
Including these two satellites, Arianespace now has a backlog of 39 spacecraft still to be launched.
The company's next launch date is still unknown. Problems with satellites that have a certain type of German-built steering thruster are keeping most of Ariane's customers on the ground for another two months or so while the trouble is repaired.
Meanwhile, Hughes, the same company that is building JCSAT 8 for Japan, announced it has closed on a deal to build its most powerful satellite -- the model 702 -- for Telesat Canada. The Canadian satellite will be called Anik F-2 and is to be launched late in 2002.
It is likely that launch services for Anik F-2 will not be procured for several more months. An Ariane 4 rocket carried Hughes' first model 702 satellite, known as Galaxy 11, into orbit on December 21, 1999.
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