Dec 20 1981
From The Space Library
ESA launched Marecs-A, first European maritime communications satellite, from Kourou in French Guiana at l:29 a.m. GMT on the fourth Ariane booster into a highly elliptical orbit with 35,820-kilometer apogee. 220-kilometer perigee, 632-minute period, and 10.5° inclination, preparatory to a boost into geosynchronous orbit at 26°W. The Ariane also carried a technological capsule (CAT 4) enclosing an experiment called Thesee (Theseus) that would remain in the original orbit.
The European Space Operations Center (ESOC) would test Marecs before handing it over to INMARSAT, which would lease its communications capacity over the Atlantic Ocean. A Marecs-B spacecraft was being readied for launch in April 1982 for INMARSAT use over the Pacific Ocean. (ESA Infos 29, 31, 32, [81], 1 [82])
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