First Launch

The Sea Launch International Space Company has successfully placed — for the first time in the new year — a US-Brazilian Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 communications satellite into orbit.

The Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenne Design Bureau’s public relations center reports that the Ukrainian-Russian-made Zenit-3SL launch vehicle (pictured) lifted off on January 11 at 6:13 a.m. Kyiv time from the Odyssey floating launch platform in the Pacific. The 4,693 kilogram Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1, built by Space Systems/Loral, carries 41 high-powered Q-band transponders. More than half of the satellite’s power will be focused on Brazil. The satellite’s other beams will cover the Americas and the North Atlantic Ocean, where Connexion by BoeingTM (super script) will use the satellite to support its Internet-to-aircraft service. It is also reported that Sea Launch plans to put another two satellites of the same series into geostationary orbit this year.

The Pivdenne Design Bureau says it has been pleased of late to note more active cooperation in implementing the Sea Launch program. While one or two commercial satellites had been launched annually since the program’s inception in March 1999, three spacecraft were put into orbit in 2003 alone, two of which, Ecostar-9 and Galaxy-13, belonged to the US and one, Thuraya-2, to the United Arab Emirates. By launching the latter craft, weighing over five tons, Sea Launch set sort of a record because Ukrainian rocket-builders managed to fundamentally increase the Zenit-3SL launch vehicle’s payload. They are looking forward to further cooperation and expect sea launches to be complemented with ground-based launches at Kazakhstan’s Baikonur space center. The Sea Launch partners are likely to sign the relevant agreement as early as mid-January 2004 in Moscow, Pivdenne spokespersons report.