Flight 137’s Ariane 4 will wait another day for its next launch opportunity.

The launch of Arianespace Flight 137 with Eurasiasat 1 has been pushed back another day due to continued unfavorable wind conditions at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

Mission team members said the next attempt will be on Wednesday, January 10.

Limits for wind speed and direction are part of safety measures for the launch zone and surrounding areas in case of an incident or accident during flight. If the winds are not within established limits, weather “red” is given until the conditions change.

Flight 137’s first wind-related delay occurred on January 8. A weather “red” had been instituted earlier in the evening, but the countdown was continued to six minutes before first stage engine ignition ñ a standard final decision point in an Ariane 4 launch. When the wind conditions had not improved, a hold was instituted, and the mission then was pushed back an initial 24 hours.

Today, the decision to delay another 24 hours was made in the morning at Kourou when it became apparent that wind conditions would continue to be unfavorable throughout the day.

Flight 137 is Arianespace’s first mission of 2001, and it will use an Ariane 44P version of the workhorse Ariane 4 family ñ which is equipped with four solid-propellant strap-on boosters.

The launcher and its Eurasiasat 1 payload are in a safe mode, ready for the final countdown’s resumption.

Eurasiasat 1 is equipped with 32 high-power Ku-band transponders for broadcast via two fixed beams and two steerable beams. The fixed beams cover Europe, Turkey and Central Asia, while the steerable beams can be pointed where the market dictates ñ including the Middle East, Russia, India and South Africa.