CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Communications between the Americas and Europe will soon flow across a new electronic bridge spanning the Atlantic Ocean courtesy of a satellite lofted into orbit Tuesday from French Guiana.
Known as Atlantic Bird 2, the satellite -- built by Alcatel Space in France for Paris-based Eutelsat -- is to spend the next 15 years serving as a broadband link between the continents, enabling communication services such as television, radio, data and Internet connectivity.
"The launch of Atlantic Bird 2 underscores Eutelsat's objective to strengthen our (capability) to meet substantial demands for capacity across the Atlantic and develop business in the Americas," said Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat's chief executive officer and chairman of the board. "This new satellite will give us a considerable resource for markets with exciting growth potential."
That capability won't reach full power, however, until the launch of Atlantic Bird 1 early in 2002. Together the pair of satellites will allow transmissions from the U.S. East Coast and South America to make it all the way to Europe and the Middle East -- including the Persian Gulf and Pakistan -- in one hop over the ocean.
Atlantic Bird 2 is equipped with 26 Ku-band transponders, will be located at 8 degrees west longitude and is scheduled to replace the services now offered on the Telecom 2A satellite. Its companion satellite, Atlantic Bird 1, will feature 24 transponders and be positioned at 12.5 degrees west longitude.One more success
Tuesday's launch of an Ariane 4 marked the 64th success in a row for that family of boosters, and the final launch of the Ariane 44P configuration, which sports four solid-fueled strap-on booster rockets. There are 10 more Ariane 4 launches scheduled and after that Arianespace will fly only the larger Ariane 5 rockets.
Liftoff from the South American coast came at 7:21 p.m. EDT (2321 GMT), 49 minutes late and just eight minutes before the launch window would have closed.
The delay was the result of a communication problem in which a downrange tracking station apparently sent a command to the Ariane 4 rocket when it wasn't supposed to. Engineers corrected the problem, reset the rocket and there were no anomalies reported during the nearly 20-minute mission.
Following the launch, Arianespace chief Jean-Marie Luton announced that the next launch from the Guiana Space Center is now targeted for Nov. 25, when an Ariane 4 is to carry a DirecTV satellite into orbit.
Resumption of Ariane 5 flights, meanwhile, is expected in January, Luton said.
An Ariane 5 satellite delivery mission in July failed to deliver its pair of spacecraft into a proper orbit because of a combustion instability problem in the rocket's upper stage. Changes to the engine and some 60 test firings in Europe have given Arianespace enough confidence to begin planning a return-to-flight, Luton said.
"Our primary concern is to resume again Ariane 5 launches we owe to our customers," Luton said. "There will be no compromise on safety and reliability."
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