KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - A new-generation Ariane-5 rocket carrying its first commercial payload will take off on December 8 from the Kourou launchpad in French Guiana, the project leader said on Friday.
Philippe Rolland said the Ariane-5 rocket would launch into orbit a XMM satellite carrying a giant telescope for the European Space Agency (ESA).
Ariane-5, which has taken 10 years to develop, is designed to launch heavier satellite payloads at lower prices than the current-generation Ariane-4, which has been in service since 1988.
The $10-billion Ariane-5 program suffered a major setback in June 1996 when its first rocket exploded 37 seconds after takeoff. Since then, two test launches have taken place with dummy satellites.
The 29-ton XMM satellite, the biggest ever built in Europe, arrived on Friday at the French Guiana port of Pariacabo.
The telescope it will carry is designed to study X-rays emitted by remote exploding stars.
``The important characteristic of the XMM is that it has huge mirrors which can catch lots of photons... which should enable us to identify all the material ejected by these stars,'' said Robert Laine, head of the XMM project at the ESA.
Ariane-5 is scheduled to take off at 2347 GMT on December 8. With the exception of the U.S. shuttle, it is the only rocket able to carry such large satellites.
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