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BFF-30
SPACE-SATELLITE-COMMUNICATIONS-EUROPE
Ariane rocket puts telecoms satellites into orbit for India
CAYENNE, Feb 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Two communications satellites — for
India and a consortium from Saudi Arabia, Greece and Cyprus — were
successfully put into orbit by the European aerospace firm ArianeGroup, the
company announced.
Competition by commercial operators in the lucrative rocket industry has
intensified in the past few years, particularly since the launch of Elon
Musk’s re-usable SpaceX.
An Ariane 5 rocket with a payload of nine tonnes lifted off from the
Kourou space centre in French Guiana late Tuesday, the first of five launches
scheduled for this year, ArianeGroup said.
One satellite, belonging to a Saudi governmental scientific body and the
Greco-Cypriot operator Hellas Sat, is to supply television, internet and
telephone communications for the Middle East, South Africa and Europe for the
next 15 years.
The other is a communications satellite designed and built by the Indian
Space Research Organisation.
“This first launch of 2019 demonstrates once again our capacity to
perfectly adapt the Ariane 5 launcher to answer the needs of each client,”
said ArianeGroup executive president Andr,-Hubert Roussel.
Ariane 5 rockets are to be replaced in 2020 by the Ariane 6, which will be
an estimated 40 percent cheaper.
Still, the ArianeGroup announced in November it would cut 2,300 jobs by
2022 as the development of the new rocket nears its end and orders for new
launches have slipped in the face of competition.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1408 hrs