SB SAT @ AMSAT  $ANS-083.01
PHASE 3-D LAUNCH DELAYED

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 083.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 24, 1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-083.01

In a formal announcement from Paris on March 24th, the European Space
Agency ( ESA ) said that the second test flight of their new Ariane 5 
booster has now been re-scheduled from July to mid-September, 1997. It 
is this flight, Ariane 502, on which Phase 3-D is currently manifested. 

According to their latest announcement, this action was being taken by ESA
and CNES (the French Space Agency which manages the Ariane 5 program for
ESA) in order to "improve (the booster's) robustness, increase the
operational margins and allow for degraded operating modes". 

In a joint statement a day after the ESA announcement, Phase 3-D Project
Leader and AMSAT-DL President, Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, along with AMSAT-NA
President Bill Tynan, W3XO, expressed continuing confidence that ESA and
CNES will succeed in completing all the tasks necessary for a successful
flight test of Ariane 502.  

"Naturally, we are disappointed that our launch will not be as soon as we
had hoped", said Meinzer. "However, I am pleased that ESA and CNES are
taking care to improve the operational margins for the Ariane 5 booster. 
This action helps give us renewed confidence in the overall probability for
a successful launch of our satellite," he said.

Both Meinzer and Tynan emphasized, however, that this launch delay, like
the earlier ones, means that the total cost of the Phase 3-D Project will
increase significantly.  Even before the latest ESA announcement,  AMSAT-DL
and AMSAT-NA were projecting a combined budget shortfall of about two
hundred thousand dollars (US) in the money needed to complete their
respective tasks on the project.

"This shortfall can only increase now as a result of this latest schedule
change", said Tynan.  Both AMSAT leaders urged everyone to continue doing
as much as they possibly can to insure the needed funds will be in place
for the completion and launch of Phase 3-D. 

Stay tuned to the AMSAT News Service for further details on the completion,
testing and launch of the AMSAT Phase 3-D International Satellite.

[ANS thanks Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, Werner Haas, DJ5KQ, Bill Tynan, W3XO, and
Keith Baker, KB1SF, for the information that went into this bulletin item.]

/EX