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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0097.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT COMMERCIAL MISSIONS TIM FURNISS / LONDON Sea Launch prepares to make landfall at Baikonur Conversion of launch pad under way to prepare for operation of Zenit 3SL vehicle Russia has started to convert a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmo drome in Kazakhstan to operate the international Sea Launch Zenit 3SL vehicle for commercial missions. The 3SL uses a standard Zenit 2 . f The 3SL uses a Zenit 2 booster booster - which have been operat ing from Baikonur since 1985 - with a DM upper stage from the Proton rocket of the type used on the failed launch of the Astra IK satellite in November 2002. Previous Sea Launch mis sions have been made from the Odyssey offshore plat form on the equator in the mid-Pacific Ocean, enabling fuel-efficient launches of 6,000kg (13,2001b) payloads to geostationary transfer orbit. Launches from the higher latitude of Baikonur would reduce this payload capability significantly, but would be cheaper. The so-called "Land Launch" project began in 2001 to address the high costs of operating the Odyssey system, despite the advantages of its equatorial launch location. The com mercial quandary has been exacerbated by the down turn in the communications satellite market and conse quent fall in forecast com mercial launches and in- I creased competition among launch service providers. The Baikonur option for Sea Launch was part of the agree ment with the venture's Ukrainian and Russian partners when the Boeing-led company was estab lished in 1994. Meanwhile, the failure of a Proton K on 26 November 2002 during an International Launch Service mission - which resulted in the loss of the Astra IK satellite - was caused by excess propellant in the Block DM upper stage engine's gas generator caused by a blocked fuel line, says an inquiry board. This led to overheating and an explosion during ignition of the second burn of the stage, causing the satellite to separate in a low transfer orbit from which it could not be recovered. The excess fuel resulted from "occasional plugging of the fuel drainage pipelines" after the first engine burn, says the report, which implies poor workmanship was responsible. The DM stage has been used 246 times with 236 successes and 10 failures. Sea Launch has flown seven successful launches with one failed flight from Odyssey since 1999 and was originally scheduled to make four commercial launches this year. ROCKET ENGINES RD-191 delays push back Angara NPO Energomash has performed seven runs of the RD-191 rocket engine being developed for the Khrunichev Space Centre's Angara family of launch vehicles. The longest firing exceeded 150s. Derived from the larger RD-171 and RD-180 used on the Zenit and Atlas launch vehicles, respectively, the 200t-thrust single-chamber engine operates on oxygen and kerosene. Khimki, Russia-based NPO Energomash says the RD-191 will be ready to enter service in three years, which threatens to cause further delays to the Angara pro gramme. The first test flight was originally due in 2001. The Angara family of rockets uses standard modules with RD-191/191M engines. The light weight 140t Angara 1.1 has one such module with a Khrunichev- developed Breeze-M second stage. It is meant to replace the Rokot launch vehicle, a conversion of the SS-19 intercontinental ballistic mis sile with 2.2t low-orbit payload capability. The heaviest, the 790t Angara-5, has a 7t payload capabil ity into geostationary transfer orbit and will replace the Proton in 2005. The Angara family will fly from a launch site at Plesetsk cos modrome in north-west Russia, originally intended for the Zenit. Khrunichev is marketing Angara 1.1 launch services as a complete package with its Yakhta micro-satel lite platform. A Yakhta-based light weight geostationary communica tions satellite can accommodate 12 transponders and fly atop the Angara 1.1 or Rokot. MM NASA LAUNCHES NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (Icesat) and the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Spectrometer (Chips) spacecraft were successfully launched into low-Earth orbit by a Boeing Delta II booster from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 13 January. The Ball Aerospace-built Icesat is the lat est Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft to be launched, following the Terra polar platform in December 1999, and its prime role is to quantify ice sheet growth or retreat, to assist in monitoring global climate change and changes in the sea level. IRIDIUM AWARD The US Department of Defense has exercised the first of three renewal options for Iridium global communication services. The original $72 million two-year contract was awarded in 2000 to Iridium Holdings, which rescued the doomed Motorola mobile phone satellite constellation. The contract gives unlimited air- time to 20,000 government workers to use the Iridium network for mobile voice, data and paging. MIKRON PLAN The Moscow Aviation Institute has designed a rocket named Mikron, which will be launched from beneath an RSK MiG-31 fighter at an altitude of 68,900ft (21,000m) to carry small satel lites into orbit. The Mikron engines will use liquid oxygen and a butyl rubber derivative and will be capable of placing satellites weighing 50-150kg (110-330lb) into 300km (186 miles) orbit. JAPAN DELAY The planned February launch of an H2A booster by the Japanese National Space and Develop ment Agency from Tanegashima has been delayed until at least March due to delays in preparing the spacecraft. The rocket is due to carry the first of a fleet of up to seven national intelligence reconnaissance satellites. Two will be launched on 2004, two in 2007 and another two upgraded versions in 2009. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 JANUARY 2003 27
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