Tim Furniss/LONDON

CHINA'S COMMERCIAL-satellite-launcher business goes on trial on 28 November, with the launch of a Long March 2E booster from Xichang, carrying the Asiasat 2 communications satellite. The 2E has suffered two catastrophic failures in five launches, in 1992 and 1995, and a third loss will place a grave question mark over the country's launch industry, say space analysts.

Although China Great Wall Industry (CGWIC), has firm contracts to launch 12 geostationary communications satellites on the 2E and other Long March booster models, another 2E failure would be a commercial disaster, resulting in a defection of customers to other launchers and loss of future business (Flight International, 27 September-3 October).

Part of the problem is that the explanations for the loss of the Hughes-built Optus B2 and Apstar 2 in the 2E failures were unsatisfactory. Neither Hughes nor CGWIC accepted responsibility for the Optus B2 failure, while wind-shear was blamed for the Apstar 2 loss.

The companies say that the windshear either damaged the payload fairing, or created resonance from the upper-stage satellite-interface unit. The payload fairing has been strengthened, and the Asiasat 2's builder, Lockheed Martin, has ensured that the interface dynamics are well within the design criteria.

The schedule is for a further 2E launch, in December, of the US Echostar 1 spacecraft. ILS International Launch Services, which markets the Russian Proton, is claiming to have secured the launch in July-September 1996 of the Echostar 2 satellite, which was to have flown on China's new Long March 3B model. If the Echostar 2 flies on the Proton, it will be the sixth Proton commercial geostationary launch contract.

The 3B - essentially a 3A with the 2E's strap-on boosters - will have its maiden flight in January 1996, carrying the Intelsat 708, which was bumped from the manifest by the Asiasat 2 after delays caused by the Apstar 2 failure.

The planned 10 November launch of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Infrared Space Observatory aboard the Ariane 44P/V80 was postponed after the detection of "an anomaly during acceptance testing of an on-board computer in France", says Arianespace.

ESA's Solar Heliospheric Observatory, is scheduled to be launched aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS booster, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 23 November (Flight International, 5-11 July).

Source: Flight International