An Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Friday, putting into orbit a Japanese civilian communications satellite and a French military communications satellite, officials said. The launch took place at Europe's space base in Kourou, on the north-east coast of South America at 7.15 pm (2215 GMT).
Twenty-seven minutes after the launch, the rocket released into orbit a JCSAT-10 satellite for Japan's JSAT Corporation. Five minutes later the rocket released Syracuse 3B, a military communications satellite for France's Defence Ministry. It was the third Ariane rocket launch this year.
Built in the United States by Lockheed Martin, the JCSAT-10 satellite was designed to broadcast high definition television to the Asia-Pacific region. It would be used for the "Sky Perfect TV" system that broadcasts 251 television channels, JSAT Corporation officials said.
The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) said a dedicated military communications satellite network was necessary because satellites shared with civilian operators risked being immobilised by relatively unsophisticated means. Syracuse was built by a European industrial consortium headed by Thales Communications and Alcatel Alenia Space.
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