In the nearest future, international Sea Launch space program satellite-carrying rockets will be put into orbit not only from the Odysseus floating platform in the Pacific Ocean but also from the land-based Baykonur launching site in Kazakhstan. According to Yury Alekseyenko, public relations chief of the Pivdenne state design bureau, this decision was made by Sea Launch consortium partners in Dnipropetrovsk. The consortium includes such worldwide-known companies as the US Boeing, the Russian Energiya, and the British-Norwegian Kvaerner Group. 15 percent of this project’s shares belong to the Ukrainian side, viz., the Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenmash factory and the Pivdenne design bureau.
“We have long been entertaining the idea of land-based launches as part of this program,” Mr. Alekseyenko said, “in order to increase the number of launches and, for that matter, to earn more money.” Meanwhile, the exclusive right to sign contracts and, hence, the final word still belongs to the US Boeing company which holds 50% of the Sea Launch stock.
According to the Pivdenne design bureau rep, Baykonur launches are expected to help them place more orders and save the time and resources required for the transportation of launch vehicles from Dnipropetrovsk. Besides, he noted, worldwide space programs increasingly tend to put low-weight satellites into orbit, which does not require of carrier rockets to increase the thrust they achieve when launched from the equator.
It is still proposed to use the Ukrainian-Russian three-stage Zenit-3 SL carrier rocket for land-based launches as part of the Sea Launch program, Mr. Alekseyenko said. As a matter of fact, Baykonur launches have so far involved two-stage Zenit vehicles. This will entail certain modification of the rocket and updating of the mounting and testing equipment and some other facilities at the launching site. For these and other reasons, the first land-based Sea Launch rocket will not start before 2004.
It is worth noting that eight satellite-carrying Zenit rockets have been successfully launched from the Odysseus floating platform in the equatorial Pacific since the spring of 1999, when the program was set into motion. The latest of those satellites was put into orbit last June. In general, according to US information, the Sea Launch consortium has thus far secured commercial orders for another 16 launches to be made before 2005.
