Posted: Thu, Dec 22, 2005, 12:05 PM ET (1705 GMT)
An Ariane 5 launched an Indian communications satellite and a European weather satellite Wednesday evening. The Ariane 5 GS lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana at 5:33 pm EST (2233 GMT) and successfully placed into geosynchronous transfer orbits about a half-hour later the Insat 4A and MSG 2 satellites. Insat 4A, built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is a 3,200-kg communications satellite carrying 12 Ku-band and 12 C-band transponders. It will provide communications services for the Indian subcontinent from 83 degrees east longitude in GEO. Insat 4A is the twelfth Indian satellites launched by an Ariane; India plans to launch one more Insat satellite on an Ariane before shifting such launches to an upgraded version of its own GSLV booster. The MSG 2 satellite, a 2,000-kg weather satellite built by Alcatel Alenia Space, will be stationed at zero degrees east in GEO.

Related Links:

•  BBC article
•  Reuters article
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  Arianespace press release
•  ESA press release