Among Europe*Star's capabilities: Direct broadcast of television programming, rural telephony, high-speed data including Internet and other online services. The satellite also will be able to connect locations as far apart as London, Singapore and South Africa with broadcast-quality television services.

Quick Delivery

Thanks to the timing of the Ariane 4 rocket launch with the end of Daylight Savings Time on the U.S. East Coast early Sunday, the European booster was launched at 1:59 a.m. and delivered its cargo into orbit at 1:20 a.m. -- 39 minutes before the rocket was launched!

"Europe*Star F1 will be connecting growth markets to areas that were not previously accessible to them; nobody is doing that at the moment" says Roger. "With small dish applications, we can make connectivity though our system, within the reach of emerging markets (including) Europe, Southern Africa, the Middle East, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Southeast Asia."

Sunday's launch was a very important step for this start-up company, which is a joint venture between Loral Space & Communications, a U.S. firm holding 49-percent ownership and Alcatel Spacecom, a French aerospace company with 51 percent.

Components of Europe*Star-F1 were built in both countries.

Europe*Star 1 will be the first European satellite using the high-powered Ku-band to link Europe and Asia in a single electronic leap. Its reach covers 76 countries and some 3 billion people in some of the fastest evolving emerging markets in the world.

"We are not linking two towns," said Jean Germain, vice president for Europe*Star engineering and operations, "But, for example, we can have some TV broadcasting originating in India and broadcast to Indian communities spread around Europe."

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The Europe*Star concept originated in the early 1990s, when Dr. Schulte Hillen, the German project founder, filed with the International Telecommunications Union via German authorities for three coveted orbital slots over the equator which are precious assets in today's crowded skies.

A close up view of the main engines and pairs of solid-fueled and liquid-fueled boosters as the Ariane 4 builds up thrust to lift off from the Guiana Space Center early Sunday. Image from Arianespace TV, used with permission.

Alcatel and Loral will jointly operate Europe*Star in the framework of a global space alliance -- Loral Global Alliance -- that includes Loral Skynet, Satellites Mexicanos (SatMex) and Loral Skynet do Brasil.

Through its membership in the Loral Global Alliance, London-based Europe*Star also is able to offer a range of worldwide satellite capacity solutions, while still focusing on the local and inter-regional needs within its coverage area. Although each company is operated independently, all operators or broadcasters will have access to the whole worldwide network from any entry point.

Europe*Star already has ordered a second identical 9,262-pound (4,201 kilogram) satellite to be launched by 2002 in the same orbital position as they expect to have their first satellite capacity sold out in 18 months.

Early next year, when the first satellite will be operational, 30 percent of its capacity already will be sold.

Like Europe*Star F1, the second spacecraft also will be built by Alcatel Space Industries as prime contractor. The satellite structure and integration are made by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California and its telecommunications payload is built in Toulouse, France, by Alcatel Space Industries.

"The first two satellites, launch, ground segment and financing represents a $500 millions investment," said Roger.

The satellite system will be controlled directly from Alcatel's Toulouse control center with backup support from Loral Skynet's center in Hawley, Pennsylvania.