British satellite blasts off
12th March 2007
The British military's communications satellite has blasted off into space after a last-minute glitch delayed its launch by 24 hours.
The Ariane rocket carrying Skynet 5A, part of a £3.6 billion British armed forces programme, had been set to take off from the European spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana last night.
But because of concerns about the launchpad's "water deluge" system, the blast-off was abandoned after a 33-minute launch window expired.
Lift off: The rocket launches. The British satellite will provide the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Airforce with the most advanced military communications system in the world.
Engineers carried out checks today and the rocket successfully left the ground at 9.55pm last night.
A live internet link relayed the events at Kourou around the world on the www.arianespace.com website.
The countdown clock was stopped yesterday with just seven minutes to go before the start of the launch window after experts detected the problem.
The deluge system is designed to pump out million of gallons of water at the moment of take-off to cool the launchpad and deaden vibrations to protect the cargo on board.
The final preparations took place in Kourou. The British plan to launch several other British-made satellites this year.
The hi-tech satellite system, which designers say is the best of its type in the world, will provide the British military with a new generation of secure communications links.
The Skynet 5 programme promises a five-fold improvement in performance over the existing Skynet 4 "constellation" of four satellites currently used by the Ministry of Defence to communicate with commanders around the world.
A second satellite, Skynet 5B, is set to be launched in the second half of this year and a "spare", Skynet 5C next year.
All three satellites have been made by Astrium, with the key technology made in Portsmouth and Stevenage.
The system was developed under a Private Finance Initiative between the Ministry of Defence and British company Paradigm, a part of Astrium Services.
As well as the Skynet craft, the rocket is also carrying India's INSAT 4B civilian telecommunications satellite.
dailymail.co.uk
12th March 2007
The British military's communications satellite has blasted off into space after a last-minute glitch delayed its launch by 24 hours.
The Ariane rocket carrying Skynet 5A, part of a £3.6 billion British armed forces programme, had been set to take off from the European spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana last night.
But because of concerns about the launchpad's "water deluge" system, the blast-off was abandoned after a 33-minute launch window expired.
Lift off: The rocket launches. The British satellite will provide the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Airforce with the most advanced military communications system in the world.
Engineers carried out checks today and the rocket successfully left the ground at 9.55pm last night.
A live internet link relayed the events at Kourou around the world on the www.arianespace.com website.
The countdown clock was stopped yesterday with just seven minutes to go before the start of the launch window after experts detected the problem.
The deluge system is designed to pump out million of gallons of water at the moment of take-off to cool the launchpad and deaden vibrations to protect the cargo on board.
The final preparations took place in Kourou. The British plan to launch several other British-made satellites this year.
The hi-tech satellite system, which designers say is the best of its type in the world, will provide the British military with a new generation of secure communications links.
The Skynet 5 programme promises a five-fold improvement in performance over the existing Skynet 4 "constellation" of four satellites currently used by the Ministry of Defence to communicate with commanders around the world.
A second satellite, Skynet 5B, is set to be launched in the second half of this year and a "spare", Skynet 5C next year.
All three satellites have been made by Astrium, with the key technology made in Portsmouth and Stevenage.
The system was developed under a Private Finance Initiative between the Ministry of Defence and British company Paradigm, a part of Astrium Services.
As well as the Skynet craft, the rocket is also carrying India's INSAT 4B civilian telecommunications satellite.
dailymail.co.uk
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