Ariane liftoff boosts Euro-space

$2 billion satellite successfully launched

KOUROU, French Guyana -- European space efforts have been boosted by the successful launch of an Ariane-5 rocket putting into orbit a $2.2 billion state-of-the-art satellite to monitor the world's environment.

Launched from French Guyana late on Thursday, the rocket lit up the night sky and was visible from the ground for more than three minutes after blasting-off at 2207 local time (0107 GMT Friday).

Twenty-six minutes after launch from the European Space Agency (ESA) centre in Kourou, the 8.1 metric tonne (17,900 lb) ENVISAT satellite separated from the Ariane rocket.

The lift-off of Ariane-5's came seven months after the project was grounded because of the flawed launch of two telecoms satellites.

Billed by the ESA as "an unprecedented instrument to study the earth's environment," ENVISAT will orbit Earth every 100 minutes collecting data on the environment.

Among its experiments, ENVISAT will collect data on greenhouse gases, global warming, the status of the ozone layer as well as monitoring the oceans, El Nino currents, Arctic and Antarctic ice melting and rain forests.

The findings will later be placed on the Internet.

"ENVISAT will be the first satellite to contribute to the monitoring of compliance of the Kyoto Protocols," said Hartmut Grassl, former director of the World Climate Research programme.

ENVISAT is the largest and most expensive satellite built in Western Europe. It was constructed by a 50-company team led by European satellite manufacturer Astrium and designed to operate in sun-synchronous orbit for five years.

Astrium is a 75 percent owned by EADS and 25 percent owned by BAE Systems.

The Ariane-5 is the latest and most powerful in the European agency's series of unmanned rockets and is the centrepiece of Europe's effort to lead the commercial rocket market.

The launch was the 148th Ariane mission since 1979. It was the 11th mission for Ariane-5 and its eighth commercial flight.

First time unlucky

Designed to replace the Ariane-4 next year, it can carry the heaviest commercial satellites now built as well as units of the international space station and scientific projects.

The rocket's career started with a spectacular failure during its maiden test launch in June 1996, exploding 37 seconds after lift-off and sending four uninsured scientific satellites worth $500 million plunging into mangrove swamps on French Guyana's coast.

Arianespace now says it has orders for the launch of 39 heavy satellites and nine automated transfer vehicles to be used for the International Space Station.

The company lost $50 million in 2001, mostly due to costs incurred from July's Ariane-5 failure and expensive testing carried out before the rocket was given the green light.

CNN's Paula Hancocks said that failure for Arianespace would have been devastating for both its finances and reputation, just seven months after its last launch went wrong. It would also have been a big blow to the European Space Agency.

Only $500 million of the $2 billion project is insured, there is no stand-by ENVISAT satellite, and a replica could not be built.

Hancocks said however that some analysts blame the public for being too quick to criticise, saying the rate of success is actually high considering the high-risk nature of the space business.