PARIS, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The launch of rocket Ariane 5-ECA, carrying Brazilian and British satellites, has been postponed due to technical problems, the Ariane space company announced late Friday.

    The technicians identified irregularities Friday morning in therotation of one fuel tank of the rocket's solid propellants, said Arianespace President Jean-Yves Le Gall

    However, they have so far failed to find out what caused the problem, said Le Gall, adding that the launch will be postponed at least to next Monday.

    The Ariane 5 rocket was scheduled to carry Brazil's civil communications satellite Star One C1 and British military communications satellite Skynet 5B into orbit at 22:04 GMT Friday.

    Star One C1 will provide live TV broadcast, data transmission and internet access services over South America, while Skynet 5B will provide military communication services for the British defense ministry, NATO and other countries authorized to use Skynet-series satellites.