spacetoday.net: Ariane launches three satellites

Posted: Sat, Oct 14, 2006, 9:05 AM ET (1305 GMT)
Ariane 5 launch of DirecTV 9S and Optus D1 (Arianespace)

An Ariane 5 successfully launched two commercial communications satellites and a Japanese experimental satellite Friday evening. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from the Kourou, French Guiana spaceport at 4:56 pm EDT (2056 GMT) and placed the three satellites into transfer orbits about a half-hour later. The two primary payloads on the spacecraft were two commercial communications satellites, DirecTV 9S and Optus D1. DirecTV 9S is a Space Systems/Loral 1300-series spacecraft weighing 5,530 kg. The spacecraft will be located 101 degrees west to augment DirecTV's fleet of television broadcast satellites. Optus D1 is a Star 2-series spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corporation and weighing 2,300 kg at launch. The spacecraft, carrying 30 Ku-band transponders, will operate from 160 degrees west. The Ariane also launched as a secondary payload the Large Deployable Reflector Small-sized Partial Model 2 (LDREX-2) spacecraft for the Japanese space agency JAXA. The small spacecraft carried out a test of a deployable antenna shortly after launch, although the results of that test will not be reported until next week. The launch was the fourth this year for the Ariane 5.