ESA's OTS-2 being prepared for antenna alignment testing at Matra Toulouse, France. Launch was 12 May 1978; the highly-successful OTS-2 was not retired from geostationary orbit until January 1991. ESA's Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) project demonstrated technologies and techniques for a new generation of telecommunications satellites, leading directly to the ECS and Marecs designs. OTS-1 was lost in the failure of its US Delta launcher on 14 September 1977.