AMSAT
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
NEWS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE					NUMBER 96-05
							JULY 30, 1996

PHASE 3-D WILL LAUNCH ON ARIANE 502


GUILDFORD, ENGLAND (AMSAT News Service) It's now official...AMSAT's Phase
3-D International Satellite will be a passenger on the next launch of the
European Space Agency's (ESA) Ariane 5 mission, AR 502.  The launch of
Phase 3-D on AR 502 has now been formally slated by ESA to occur "within
the first six months of 1997".  However, AMSAT officials are now working
to complete all integration and testing efforts for the Phase 3-D
satellite in time for a launch that could come as early as mid-February,
1997.

The latest announcement came on July 27 during a joint
AMSAT-Germany/AMSAT-North America presentation on Phase 3-D's status to
the 1996 AMSAT-UK Colloquium at the University of Surrey here.  The
decision to re-confirm launch of Phase-3-D via AR 502 was made immediately
following a series of high level meetings between AMSAT and ESA officials
at ESA's Headquarters in Paris, France on July 23rd and 24th.  These
meetings occurred in conjunction with ESA's public announcement of results
from their formal Inquiry Board investigating the failure of the first
Ariane 5 launch, AR 501, in early June.

Dr.  Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, AMSAT-DL President and Phase 3-D Project Leader,
along with Keith Baker, KB1SF, AMSAT-NA Executive Vice President, and Dick
Jansson, WD4FAB, AMSAT-NA Vice President, Engineering, represented AMSAT
at both the AR 501 Inquiry Board's news conference as well as in the
subsequent meetings with ESA officials.

"We have been given strong assurances that ESA has taken the
recommendations of the AR 501 Inquiry Board to heart and are now 'rolling
up their shirtsleeves' to correct those deficiencies in time for the
Ariane 502 launch next year," said Dr.  Meinzer.  He went on to say that,
"I am very confident that ESA will do all that can possibly be done to
insure our launch is successful."

AMSAT-NA's Keith Baker was equally positive about the latest developments
for Phase 3-D's launch.  Keith noted that, "The fact that the
investigators were able to use recovered debris and subsequent laboratory
analysis to duplicate the exact sequence of events that caused the AR 501
failure gives us renewed confidence for the prospects of a successful
launch on AR 502." In addition, Baker went on to say that, "It is also
readily apparent that the Inquiry Board's findings and recommendations
went well beyond immediate hardware and software issues to address the
primary root causes of the AR 501 failure."

AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan, W3XO, also viewed the latest launch
developments for the Phase 3-D satellite as good news.  "However", said
Tynan, "this still places responsibility for completion and testing of
Phase 3-D firmly in our court." He went on to note that, "We must still
finish final integration and testing of the satellite by year end, conduct
the launch campaign, and insure the necessary funds are secured to do so."
Tynan concluded that, "Even if our launch goes as it is now scheduled, we
will have incurred an unplanned program stretch-out of a year or more.
This translates directly into a critical need for additional funding to
insure Phase 3-D is complete and flight-ready when ESA tells us it is time
to launch," he said.

AMSAT is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) educational and scientific
organization that was first chartered in Washington, DC, USA.  Its
objectives include promoting space research and communication by building,
launching and controlling Amateur Radio spacecraft.  Since its founding,
over 25 years ago, many other like-minded organizations have been formed
around the world to pursue the same goals and who now also share the AMSAT
name.  Often acting together, these groups have used predominantly
volunteer labor and donated resources to design, construct and, with the
added assistance of government and commercial space agencies, successfully
launch, over two dozen Amateur Radio communications satellites into Earth
orbit.

The Phase 3-D satellite, now under construction with the help of over a
dozen AMSAT groups on five continents, will be the largest, most complex,
and most expensive Amateur Radio satellite ever built.



FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
=============================


In North America:

AMSAT-North America		
Keith Baker, KB1SF; Executive Vice President
1324 Fairgrounds Road
Xenia, Ohio 45385-9514 USA
Phone/Fax:  513-429-5325
Internet: "kb1sf@amsat.org"



In Europe:

AMSAT-Germany
Werner Haas, DJ5KQ; Vice President
Holderstrauch 10
D-35041 Marburg, Germany
Phone: (06421) 684121
Fax: (06421) 285665
Internet: "dj5kq@amsat.org"


AMSAT is a registered trademark of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation.

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