\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH DATE: \<COLOUR 0> June 16, 1983
\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH SITE: \<COLOUR 0> Kourou Space Centre, French Guiana
\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH VEHICLE: \<COLOUR 0> Ariane 1
\<COLOUR 1> ORBIT: \<COLOUR 0> Geostationary
\<COLOUR 1> SIZE: \<COLOUR 0> 1.9 metres by 1.4 metres by 2.3 metres Solar array span 14 metres
\<COLOUR 1> WEIGHT: \<COLOUR 0> 1,050 kg
\<COLOUR 1> COUNTRY: \<COLOUR 0> Europe
\<COLOUR 1> COMMENTS: \<COLOUR 0> First in a series of comsats operated by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat) handling the relay of telephony, telex, data and broadcasting communications throughout Europe; although having a design life of seven years, it is still working in 1992; four more ECS satellites completed the series, the last (ECS-5) being launched in July 1988.