spacetoday.net: Ariane launch postponed

Posted: Thu, Jun 24, 2010, 7:19 AM ET (1119 GMT)
The Ariane 5 launch of a two satellites was postponed Wednesday because of an unspecified technical problem. The Ariane 5G was scheduled to launch Wednesday evening from Kourou, French Guiana, but the launch was scrubbed because of a "launcher subsystem anomaly" during the final countdown, according to Arianespace. The cause of the anomaly is under investigation and no new launch date was immediately announced. The rocket is carrying two satellites, Arabsat 5A and COMS, to GEO. Arabsat 5A was built by EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space for Arabsat; the 4,939-kilogram communications satellite will operate from 30.5 degrees east. COMS, built by EADS Astrium for the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, carries communications, meteorological, and ocean-observing payloads; the 2,460-kilogram satellite will operate from 128 degrees east.