§ Mr. Richard Pageasked the Secretary of State for Industry what additional steps are being taken on the preparation of the Ariane launcher for the MARECS..B launch later in the current year.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerIt is hoped to launch a replacement MARECS-B satellite on an Ariane flight in mid-1984. Since the failure last September of the Ariane launcher which carried the original MARECS-B, intensive work by the French national space agency CNES, the European Space Agency and the manufacturers concerned has pin-pointed the cause of the failure as in the third-stage turbo-pump and design changes have been made. A close look at certain other important launcher elements has also been made to improve the reliability of the inertial-platform system and the third-stage feed and pressurisation systems. Three operational launches of Ariane are now scheduled for 1983, commencing with the first of the European communication satellites, ECS-1, on 3 June.