No reasons were given for the delay. The launch had been due to take place at between 2249 and 2330 GMT from the space centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

It was to have been the first launch of an Ariane 5 since December 12, when a beefed-up version of the rocket, an Ariane 5-ECA, suddenly veered off course on its maiden flight.

Mission controllers had to blow up the launcher along with two satellites, in a failure reckoned to have cost half a billion dollars.

Officials at the Arianespace company near Paris did not say when the postponed launch was likely to take place.

The rocket was to have carried two telecommunications satellites, the 2.95-tonne INSAT 3A for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the 1.76-tonne Galaxy XII for the US telecoms operator PanAmSat, into geostationary orbit.

SPACE.WIRE