European Soyuz Will Not Fly Until 2011

According to an official announcement made by representatives from Arianespace, it would appear that the European-built version of the famous Russian Soyuz rocket will not see its maiden flight until 2011.

This date is arbitrarily set at this point, which means that it could be further delayed. Actually deciding when the launch will take place depends entirely on the payload the rocket will have to carry.

Initially, it was supposed to blast off carrying the Hylas consumer broadband satellite, which is owned by London-based company Avanti Communications.

But now the corporation decided to launch its spacecraft aboard an Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift rocket, which will also take off from Guiana Space Center spaceport, in the French Guiana.

At this point, the payload for the first Soyuz flight is still being decided. There are two main contenders for replacing the Avanti satellites.

The French government wants to use the delivery system to launch its Pleiades high-resolution optical Earth imaging satellite, while the European Space Agency wants to launch two demonstration models of its planned Galileo navigation and timing program.

The announcement was made on September 7 by Arianespace Chief Executive Jean-Yves Le Gall, Space reports. 

Over the past few months, the construction of a mobile gantry has been the main reason why works on the European-built Soyuz rocket has ceased.

But engineers are now trying to make up for the lost time, and work on the special launch pad this class of rockets needs is underway.

According to officials from the Kourou Spaceport, the pad will be finished soon, and Soyuz flights will become possible starting in 2011.

The maiden flight of Soyuz rockets from South America will most likely take place in the early months of next year, analysts say. It remains to be seen what payload it will carry.

The Pleiades satellite's ground segment has yet to be completed, and experts handling its construction are not exactly sure that it will be completed by spring.

As such, the two ESA demonstration satellites could become the natural choice. They are to provide test data to serve the navigation satellite constellation that Europe is building.

The Galileo network will rival and sometimes exceed the American-built GPS in terms of accuracy and overall performance.