Arianespace may have found a customer willing to fly on the demonstration flight of the redesigned Ariane 5 ECA, scheduled to take place in March next year.
The uprated ECA failed on its maiden flight in December 2002. Airclaims reports that the Xtar-Eur satellite, originally manifested for a Boeing-led Sea Launch flight, will be switched to Arianespace to be carried aboard the ECA at a presumably attractive price.
Xtar-Eur and a second craft, SpainSat, are to be operated by the US defence satellite communications company Xtar and Hidesat/Loral, respectively. The satellites, being built by Space Systems/Loral, will provide leased capacity to the US Department of Defense, Spain's ministry of defence and other related agencies.
Meanwhile, the delayed Ariane 5G flight 162, carrying eBird and Insat communications satellites and the European Space Agency's Smart 1 moon orbiter, is now scheduled for late September.
The launch was delayed after the Indian Space Research Organisation requested more time to retest some components on the communications payload of Insat 3E.
Source: Flight International
