Satellite Carries Laser Experiment

A 1400-lb satellite carrying an experimental laser communications package has been successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The National Reconnaissance Office's GeoLite satellite was built by TRW Space & Electronics Group of Redondo Beach, Calif., and was carried aboard a Delta II rocket.

The $130 million satellite is intended to showcase TRW's T-130 modular satellite bus, an economical, flexible design for applications in geostationary communications, meteorology and planetary exploration. According to Art Haubold, a spokesman for the National Reconnaissance Office, the details of the laser experiment are classified.