Arianespace launched a 44LP booster from Kourou, French Guiana, on 19 October on mission V122, carrying the Orion 2 digital TV satellite for Loral Orion. It was the 48th consecutive Ariane 4 launch success and the third Ariane 4 launch in 45 days. The V123 mission, set for 13 November, will carry the GE-4 comsat on another 44LP model.
Three missions are planned for December, including the first commercial flight of the Ariane 5 carrying the European Space Agency's X-Ray Multi Mirror telescope.
The company's orderbook numbers 43 satellites, worth almost $4 billion, with the recent receipt of two new contracts, to launch the Intelsat New Skies NSS-7 satellite in 2001 and the SES Astra 2D spacecraft in 2000. NewSkies is built by Lockheed Martin and the Astra 2D by Hughes.
NewSkies, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is a new global operator resulting from the privatisation of Intelsat. It began operations with five Intelsat satellites in orbit. The first NewSkies satellite is the former Intelsat K-TV, designated NSS 6, to be launched next year.
• Amateur Radio AMSAT's International Phase 3D communications satellite has been accepted for a piggyback launch on the "first suitable" Ariane 5 flight.
Source: Flight International
