Arianespace again delays 2010 launch mission II

The France-HQed Arianespace announced late Thursday that its 2010 mission II had been postponed at the last minute due to technical anomaly.

The launch, cleared for late Wednesday from French Guiana, was called off due to a "red" indication for the launch pad during the final countdown, a company statement read.

The launch mission is to lift into orbit a double payload of an Arabsat-5A and COMS spacecraft.

Two halts of countdown at the launch center missed the launch window of between 6:41 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. local time (2141 GMT to 2245 GMT), the statement added.

Arianespace will announce a new launch date "as soon as possible."

In April, Arianespace's year-opening launch was marked with a series of setbacks. That launch mission recorded four postpones before heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket finally lifted off to send an ASTRA 3B and a COMSATBw-2 into expected orbits in late May.

Ariane 5's payload lift performance for this second Arianespace mission of 2010 is approximately 8,390 kg to geostationary transfer orbits. The liftoff weight includes a combined mass of 7,315 kg for the Arabsat-5A and COMS satellites.

Source:Xinhua