KOUROU, French Guiana---Arianespace today successfully launched two commercial satellites: Eurobird for the European Eutelsat telecommunications organization, and BSAT-2a for the Japanese Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation in a turnkey contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation of the U.S.
This latest successful flight confirms the technical and operational maturity of Europe's Ariane 5, which is now widely recognized as the reference heavy-lift launch vehicle in the global space industry.
The mission's Eurobird payload was the 14th satellite launched for Eutelsat by Ariane. Arianespace has two more Eutelsat satellites on its order book.
BSAT-2a was the third satellite to be orbited by Arianespace for the Japanese Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation, following BSAT-1a on Flight 95 and BSAT-1b on Flight 108. It also is the 15th Japanese satellite launched by Ariane. Out of 24 commercial satellite launch contracts open for competitive bid in Japan, Arianespace has won 18. A second satellite, BSAT-2b, is scheduled for launch mid-2001.
Arianespace's next launch, Flight 141, is planned for early June. An Ariane 4 vehicle (Ariane 44L version) will orbit the Intelsat 901 communications satellite for the Intelsat international telecommunications organization.
Before the end of the year 3 more Ariane 4s and 4 Ariane 5s are slated for launch.
Following the Flight 140 success, Arianespace's backlog now stands at 36 satellites to be launched, plus 9 ATV missions for the International Space Station.
Flight 140: technical data Flight 140 was Arianespace's third launch of 2001, and the first Ariane 5 mission of the year.
Liftoff from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana was at 7:51 p.m. local time (22H51 GMT; 11:51 p.m. in Paris, 5:51 p.m. in Washington, DC, and on March 9 at 7:51 am in Tokyo).
Provisional parameters for Flight 140's accuracy at third stage injection into geostationary transfer orbit were:
**Perigee: 863 km. for a target of 863 km. (plus or minus 4 km)
**Apogee: 36,032 km. for a target of 35,986 km (plus or minus 260 km)
**Inclination: 2.02 degrees for a target of 2.00 degrees (plus or minus 0.07 deg.)
The Flight 140 satellites: Eurobird and BSAT-2a Eutelsat's Eurobird satellite was built by Alcatel Space in Cannes, France, and will be positioned at 28.5 degrees East. It will join the Eutelsat fleet to provide telecommunications services for Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Weighing 3,050 kg. at liftoff, Eurobird is fitted with 24 Ku-band transponders and has a design life exceeding 12 years.
BSAT-2a was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles (Virginia, USA) for the Japanese Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation, and it weighed 1,317 kg. at launch. It carries 4 Ku-band transponders and will offer direct TV broadcast services throughout Japan from the satellite's orbital position of 110 degrees East. BSAT-2a has a design life of more than 10 years. Currently, more than 16 million Japanese households receive programs broadcast by the BSAT-1a and BSAT-1b spacecraft. (ends)
Arianespace Flight 140: a Successful Ariane 5 Launch for Two Loyal Customers
