Ariane-4, flight V-132 update 04-09-2000

Flight 132 is cleared for launch on WednesdayThe Ariane 4 for Flight 132 was cleared for launch following today’s successful launch readiness review. Standing ready in the ELA-2 launch zone, the vehicle will begin its fuelling process tomorrow. Flight 132’s launch window opens at 7:33 p.m. local Kourou time on September 6 and extends through 8:47 p.m. the same evening (10:33 p.m. to 11:47 p.m. GMT on September 6).
 
Launch team members topped off the Flight 132 launcher this weekend when they installed Eutelsat’s W1 payload atop the Ariane 4. The 3,250-kg. satellite, encapsulated in its protective payload fairing, had been hoisted the day before to the upper level of the service gantry by a crane system and was readied for mating to the launch vehicle.
 
The Astrium-built W1 platform is of strategic importance for Eutelsat. The spacecraft will be positioned at 10 degrees East – an orbital location that already hosts many valuable business networks and consumer services, and where there is clear market demand for increased bandwidth and broader reach.
 
Once operational, W1 will assume the traffic currently managed at 10 degrees East by the Eutelsat II-F4 satellite, and the new spacecraft’s presence in orbit will allow a 20 percent increase in business. According to Eutelsat, the new satellite fully matches market trends, responding to the growing demand for Internet backbone connections, corporate networks including intranets and extranets, automatic file transfer, distribution links for TV stations interconnectivity between Europe and Africa.
 
Flight 132 will use the 98th Ariane 4 to be launched, and it will be the 13th in the Ariane 44P configuration (which has four solid strap-on boosters added to the first stage to augment thrust at liftoff and during initial ascent).