Launch Gives Africa's Rascom Consortium New Lease on Life

摘要

The successful Aug. 4 launch of the Rascom-QAF 1R telecommunications satellite provides the Rascom organization with a second chance to prove itself some two-and-a-half years after its first satellite reached orbit with a fuel system leak that reduced its life to about three years and nearly forced the collapse of the 15-year Rascom project.rnWith Rascom-QAF 1R now safely in orbit, and with early indications of good health, Mauritius-based Rascom is able to present itself as a company with a likely 19 years of in-orbit capacity in front of it, according to preliminary post-launch calculations made by the satellite's builder, Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy.