🚀 go-pugleaf

>>... Satcom companies will choose the appropriately sized, more
>>reliable, and less costly Delta 2 and Atlas 2 (and perhaps other similarly 
>>sized rockets).

>If I'm not mistaken, Nick, neither of those can carry an Intelsat 6, never
>mind whatever eventually replaces the 6.

Titan 4:	8,500 kg to GTO
Ariane 5:	8,000 kg to GTO?  (anybody have better figures for this?)
Ariane 44L:	4,200 kg to GTO
Atlas 2AS:	3,460 kg to GTO
Ariane 44P:	3,200 kg to GTO
Atlas 2:	2,680 kg to GTO 
Delta 2.7: 	1,820 kg to GTO
Delta 2.6	1,460 kg to GTO

Both Ariane 4 and Atlas 2 can launch Intelsat 7 and "K" (the next 
generation), as well as Eutelsat, N-STAR, etc.   I don't know
if Atlas 2AS can launch Intelsat 6, but Ariane 4 does.   Delta 
launches the smaller Westars, BSB's, etc.  There is little commercial 
interest in the Ariane 5 niche; if there was Titan 4 already has a 
track record and would likely get the orders.

If Europe wants to scale up its military space capability quite 
dramatically, Ariane 5 doesn't look so bad.  More likely, it is 
as originally postulated, a booster for Hermes, a sad mimicry of our 
own bizarrely expensive astronaut program.   If so, Europe may soon 
lose its dominance in the commercial launch market.


-- 
szabo@techbook.COM  ...!{tektronix!nosun,uunet}techbook!szabo
Public Access UNIX at (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400) Voice: +1 503 646-8257
Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks