Initial reports said that all was well with that Ariane launch that put up birds for IBM and GTE Corp (CI No 1,011) but it turns out that while the SBS-5 bird, owned by the Satellite Transponder Leasing Corp bit of Satllite Business Systems that IBM retained because MCI Communications Inc couldn’t afford it when it bought the rest, flew happily into its right orbit and should start commercial operation on October 15, GTE Corp was not so lucky, and its GStar III has bowled into a useless egg shaped orbit for reasons as yet unexplained: GTE, General Electric Co which made the satellite, Arianespace and Morton Thiokol Inc , which made the kick motor designed to give the satellite its final push into orbit, are all investigating why it didn’t reach a usable orbit, with suggestions including problems with the kick motor or a sudden change in the centre of gravity of the satellite itself; if GTE uses some of the satellite’s fuel reserve to direct it into its correct orbit, it will reduce the useful life to about two years, and the failure is expected to exacerbate a shortage of high frequency satellite capacity that’s forecast to start biting in 1989.
