European rocket puts world's heaviest communications satellite into orbit

The world's largest-ever communications satellite, lifted Thursday by a European Ariane 5 rocket, has been placed in orbit, the Paris-based Arianespace company said.

The 6.5-tonne satellite owned by a private Thai operator was placed high over Indonesia half an hour after blastoff from the European Space Agency's base at Kourou in French Guiana, Arianespace said.

Built by Space Systems/Loral in California, the 320-million-euro (400-million-dollar) Thaicom-4 satellite is designed to provide Internet access and multimedia services for Asia, Australia and New Zealand for a period of at least 12 years.

According to Arianespace, the Thaicom satellite is "the heaviest commercial satellite ever delivered to geosynchronous orbit."

Source: Xinhua