An Ariane rocket carried Egypt's first satellite together with a Japanese cousin into orbit Tuesday night [early Wednesday Cairo time], the 108th successful launch of an Ariane, officials said. The Ariane 4, equipped with four solid strap-on boosters, blasted off from Europe's launch site in Kourou, French Guyana, on the northern edge of South America at 7.53 pm Tuesday local time [0153 Wednesday Cairo time]. The rocket punched through a layer of low-altitude clouds but reappeared seconds later and was visible from the ground for over three minutes. According to space officials, the Nilesat 101 satellite, Egypt's first satellite, separated from the Ariane rocket 21 minutes after liftoff. The 4,000-pound (1.8 metric ton) satellite will provide direct-to-home television, radio and data broadcasting throughout the Middle East, the Mediterranean region and north Africa. The launch was watched by Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif, who travelled to Kourou especially for this purpose, and was broadcast live by Egyptian television. On 31 May, Media Day, President Hosni Mubarak will inaugurate Nilesat's ground station at Sixth of October City, signalling that the satellite is now operational. Once in orbit, Nilesat will make Egypt the first Arab and the first African country to have its own media satellite, thus joining the international outher space club as its 60th member. Using the digital compression system, the satellite will be equipped to carry up to 84 television channels and 400 radio stations. Twenty television channels will be available free of charge, including the new specialised channels of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union [ERTU]. These channels will include programmes covering education, culture, sports, family affairs, children, news shows and entertainment, in addition to the programmes found on local and satellite channels already in operation. Some Arab channels from Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Jordan and Lebanon will also be available without subscription. Viewers will, however, need to buy a special decoder to watch the Egyptian and Arab stations. About 23 channels will be encrypted, including the Pioneers Group [ART], Showtime, the second Egyptian satellite channel and Lebanon's LBC-plus. For these channels, viewers will need decoders and have to pay subscription fees. "The launch of Nilesat is a cultural step forward that marks Egypt's entry into the 21st century with great confidence in its media capatilities," El-Sherif said. "It also marks Egypt's entry into the age of space technology as a pioneer state that seeks to affirm its Arab identity." El-Sherif said that a second Egyptian satellite, larger than the first, will be ready for launching in 11 months. It will be equipped to carry as many as 102 television channels as well as 500 radio stations. "This is a very important moment for Egypt and the Arab world. This launch gives us a very advanced satellite that will serve the whole of the Arab area, bringing culture, enlightenment and entertainment," Nilesat president Amin Bassiouni told a pre-launch news conference. The satellite was built by France's Matra Marconi Space, a joint venture of Britain's General Electric and France's Lagadarere Groupe. It is designed to operate in space for 16 years. Nilesat officials said the cost of the satellite, launch and insurance came to a total of $158 million. Five minutes later, the Ariane rocket released BSAT-1b, a 2,650-pound (1.2 ton) direct television broadcast satellite for Tokyo-based Broadcasting Satellite System Corp. Company officials declined to disclose the cost of their mission. Specialists estimated the cost of the satellite, launch and insurance at over $130 million. BSAT-1b, a Hughes 376 series satellite, was built by Los Angeles-based Hughes Space & Communications, a General Motors unit, and is designed to operate for 12 years. The BSAT-lb is the 12th Japanese satellite launched by Ariane, allowing the company B-SAT to broaden its TV relay services in Japan. "BSAT-1b will be an in-orbit spare and provide backup to the more than 10 million households that receive direct TV broadcasts from the BSAT system," Arturo Rosales, Hughes senior vice-president said. Tuesday's mission was the fourth of 12 planned Ariane rocket launches for 1998. It was the 36th consecutive successful launch of an Ariane-4 rocket. Arianespace, the commercial arm of the 13-nation European Space Agency, leads the world commercial launch market. But it has been experiencing trouble with its new, larger rocket, the Ariane 5. In February, Arianespace admitted that the second launch of the rocket on 30 October had also experienced problems, after the first launch crashed in June 1996. Officials reported the rocket had a "higher than expected roll" after separating from its booster rocket, and that additional tests would be needed. No date has been given for the next launch. The Paris-based Arianespace company that launches the Ariane-4 rocket series said it now had 39 satellites on order to be launched, worth an estimated $3.4 billion.
