French rocket launches orbiters

Press, 24 February 1986, Page 6

French rocket launches orbiters

NZPA-Reuter Toulouse

The European space programme was back on track yesterday after a successful launching of the Ariane rocket which put two satellites into orbit and helped erase the memory of last September’s mission failure. Ariane’s achievement yesterday is also likely to help to restore confidence in commercial satellite launch systems.

Frederic d’Allest, head of the Arianespace group, which markets satellite space on the rocket, said: “We were extremely satisfied with this launch ... there was a lot at stake for us.” The Ariane 1 rocket blasted into the tropical night sky from its jungle space centre at Kourou, French Guiana, exactly on schedule, putting a French SPOT Earth observation satellite and a

Swedish Viking scientific satellite into orbit.

Although the satellites separated from the rocket according to plan, a minor problem arose with a solar panel switch on the SPOT.

But French space agency scientists later said the panel and all other aspects of the satellite were working normally.

The launching had been postponed three times,

first because of the failed mission in September, which was caused by a faulty third stage, and then to two technical hitches last month. The SPOT satellite is the first commercial challenger to the 13-year-old American Landsat orbiter, and aims to beam back 500,000 photos of the Earth’s surface a year showing objects as small as 10 metres across. SPOT’s main commer-

cial uses will be for agricultural and geological surveying and mapping.

But mission directors say that it will also have military applications. The French Defence Ministry has taken an active interest in the project. Since American space shuttle flights have been temporarily grounded after last month’s accident, Ariane is the only Western satellite launch vehicle in service.