This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7087910.stm
The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Skynet military launch is delayed | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The launch of the UK's Skynet 5B military communications satellite from French Guiana has been delayed. | The launch of the UK's Skynet 5B military communications satellite from French Guiana has been delayed. |
| The spacecraft's Ariane rocket has developed an electronic problem with its solid fuel boosters and will be rolled back to its inspection shed. | The spacecraft's Ariane rocket has developed an electronic problem with its solid fuel boosters and will be rolled back to its inspection shed. |
| The flight, originally timed for Friday night, is not now expected to take place until Monday at the earliest. | The flight, originally timed for Friday night, is not now expected to take place until Monday at the earliest. |
| The £3.6bn Skynet project is designed to give British commanders access to more information, much faster. | The £3.6bn Skynet project is designed to give British commanders access to more information, much faster. |
| "We tried to understand what's going on [in the electronic equipment] but unfortunately we did not succeed," explained Jean-Yves Le Gall from Arianespace, the company which runs the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. | "We tried to understand what's going on [in the electronic equipment] but unfortunately we did not succeed," explained Jean-Yves Le Gall from Arianespace, the company which runs the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. |
| "We are now taking the launch vehicle back to the Final Assembly Building where we will investigate the equipment and replace it." | "We are now taking the launch vehicle back to the Final Assembly Building where we will investigate the equipment and replace it." |
| The Skynet 5B platform is set to join in orbit the 5A satellite, which was lofted successfully in March and is already handling secure traffic for UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. | |
| The spacecraft, which have been developed by EADS Astrium in Stevenage and Portsmouth, provide-two-and-a-half times the bandwidth capacity of their predecessors, the Skynet 4 satellites. | |
| The greater performance is necessary because military commanders are starting to use information-rich applications, such as video, in their operations. | |
| Only today, the Ministry of Defence announced it had started flying its new Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Afghanistan. The planes are gathering intelligence on Taliban activities and their pictures can be fed back to the UK via Skynet 5A for further analysis, if necessary. | |
| The problem with the Ariane also delays the launch of Skynet 5B's co-passenger on the rocket - a Brazilian satellite called Star One C1 which will deliver broadband internet services to consumers in South America. |