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Thursday, 28 February, 2002, 19:57 GMT
'Green' satellite primed for blast-off
Envisat is the size of a bus
Mission managers say high winds buffeting the giant rocket as it stood on the pad could have unfastened connections to the umbilical tower. The Ariane 5 rocket, and its precious cargo, had to be rolled back along a railway line into the Final Assembly Building where engineers inspected a venting duct that regulates temperature on an important part of the launcher. Looking good But Jean-Yves Le Gall, general director of Arianespace, the company that operates the Ariane rocket programme, expressed his satisfaction with the checks and confirmed the launch would go ahead on schedule at 22:07 local time (01:07 GMT, Friday).
Bernhard Puygrenier, mission director for Flight 145, said the cryogenic fuel (oxygen and hydrogen) was being put into the rocket ready for blast-off. "Everything is under control and going normally," he said. "Everything is as expected." And Philippe Gilson, from the French space agency, said weather conditions were fair and looked good for launch. Informing policy Envisat will be the largest payload to be launched on an Ariane rocket. It weighs more than 8,000 kg and is 10 metres long. The fairing - the part of the rocket that contains the satellite - is the longest ever for an Ariane rocket , at 17 metres, and has been specially built. If all goes to plan, Thursday's launch will mark the beginning of the spacecraft's five-year journey around the Earth and the end of a decade-long development and construction effort.
The UK has contributed £300m to the project, a record for a British contribution to one satellite and second only to France among the 14 collaborators. Billed as a "unique flying environment station", Envisat will monitor the health of the Earth's oceans, ice caps, land and atmosphere. Scientists hope that the data it gathers over the course of five or more years will justify its cost, by providing key environmental data that will feed into international policies like the Kyoto Protocol.
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