Japan's NASDA space agency sponsored the LDREX experimental antenna. Ariane V138's EPS upper stage carried an ASAP5 small payload attachment ring with a special camera system. LDREX was a 6-m diameter antenna which was to have deployed 40 minutes after launch, to test the deployment mechanism for the larger antenna to be used on the ETS-8 satellite. After the test the antenna was to have been jettisoned. However the experiment failed and no deployment or jettison took place.

Associated Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G.

• 2000 December 20 - LDREX - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G. Mass: 1,414 kg (3,117 lb). Perigee: 241 km (149 mi). Apogee: 30,257 km (18,800 mi). Inclination: 2.40 deg. Period: 527.50 min.

  Ariane V138's EPS upper stage carried an ASAP5 small payload attachment ring with a special camera system and the LDREX experimental antenna for Japan's NASDA space agency. LDREX (Large-scale Deployable Reflector EXperiment) was a 6-m diameter antenna which was to have deployed 40 minutes after launch, to test the deployment mechanism for the larger antenna to be used on the ETS-8 satellite. After the test the antenna was to have been jettisoned. However the experiment failed and no deployment or jettison took place.

• McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. Essential internet newsletter recording worldwide weekly space events. Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

• NASA/GSFC Orbital Information Group Website, . Accessed at: http://oig1.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

• Space-Launcher.com, Orbital Report News Agency. Accessed at: http://www.orbireport.com/Log.html.