New Launcher to Lift Off With Armada of Plasma Probes

摘要

Next week, if all goes according to plan, Europe will launch the first of its Ariane 5 rockets--the new workhorse of the European space program, capable of lofting up to 23 tons of payload into orbit. But next Thursday's launch from Kourou in French Guyana marks more than just the inauguration of a new launcher; it will also be a milestone in the European Space Agency's (ESA's) science program. Ariane 5's first payload consists of four identical satellites, collectively known as Cluster, which will fly in formation around Earth studying in unprecedented detail its magnetosphere and the stream of particles from the sun that pounds it around the clock. Cluster and SOHO, a solar observatory ESA launched last December, together form the first large "cornerstone" mission of ESA's ambitious Horizon 2000 space science program.