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US Titan Launch Postponed
Washington (AFP) August 17, 2000 - A Titan IV rocket carrying a spy satellite, whose launch was delayed a day earlier due to an electronic glitch, blasted off Thursday, the US air force said. The rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Base at 4:45 p.m. (2345 GMT), after take-off was postponed when technicians discovered a problem during routine pre-launch testing on Tuesday. "Everything went normal," said air force sergeant Lloyd Conley. "They had a payload/booster separation at 4:54 p.m. The military satellite carried aboard the rocket, is a top secret one, launched on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) -- so secret that its logo was classified until 1994. The Lacrosse-type spy satellite will be placed in orbit at some 600 kilometers (370 miles), to replace one of the two satellites already in orbit. Weighing 15 tonnes, the billion-dollar satellite is equipped with an extremely high-definition synthetic aperture radar system. "The United States is the only country that has a satellite like this. This would be a replacement for the oldest of the two," said John Pike, director of space policy at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). The satellite launch is part of the NRO's Future Imagery Architecture program to place in orbit a network of surveillance satellites, with which the US military are seeking a glimpse in real-time of future battlefields, Pike said. Copyright 2000 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India. |
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