We thought the Pan American Satellite PAS 1 bird was meant to go up on last week’s successful maiden mission of the Ariane IV rocket, but the list of birds in the payload seemed not to include it: at all events, PAS 1 is safely in orbit (the company ungraciously failed to mention Ariane in its announcement), and is in an orbit that gives coverage of the continental US, Western Europe, the Caribbean and Central and South America; the Greenwich, Connecticut-based company – its status is the subsidiary of a sole proprietorship of its founder, Rene Anselmo – now has landing rights in the US, the UK, West Germany, Scandinavia, the Dominican Republic and Peru, and Pan American Satellite also has contracts with Chile, Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela.
