The successful Feb. 12 launch of the enhanced version of Europe's Ariane 5 rocket has put the Arianespace launch consortium back in the running as a major commercial-launch competitor, saved the life of a Loral-led satellite operator and removed a shadow cast over Europe's near-term government space budget. The launch of the Ariane 5 ECA vehicle, which failed in its inaugural flight in December 2002, placed the Xtar-Eur satellite, owned by start-up operator Xtar LLC, into geostationary transfer orbit., Xtar-F.ur, built by Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., weighed 3,772 kilograms at launch and was accompanied by the 3,496-kilogram Maqsat-B2 Also launched was the 129 kilogram Sloshsat experimental satellite that was released into orbit to measure the effects on a spacecraft's control of a fluid — in most cases fuel, but in this case 33.5 liters of water — that sloshes in its tanks.
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