TIM FURNISS / LONDON
As year's first flight takes off, sector still struggling to return to high point of 2000
Latest figures show satellite launches are still in the doldrums. There were 60 launches in 2003, compared with 62 in 2002 and 58 in 2001, reflecting the downturn in the launch business since 2000, when there were 82. This compares with an average of 78 launches a year from 1995 to 1999. China made the last launch of the year on 30 December, when the first of two planned Chinese-European Double Star scientific satellites flew on a Long March 2C SM from Xichang.
The first launch of 2004 was planned for 10 January, with a scheduled Sea Launch flight of a Zenit 3SL booster from the Odyssey floating platform carrying the Telstar 14/Estrala do Sul communications satellite. Boeing-led Sea Launch made three flights last year, and will also launch the DirecTV 7S and Telstar 18 satellites in 2004.
There were 22 launches from the USA in 2003 and the busiest launch base was Cape Canaveral in Florida, with 13 flights. International Launch Services conducted five Atlas launches from the USA, plus one Proton flight from Baikonur. This compares with the four Ariane flights from Kourou, French Guiana last year and two Soyuz launches from Baikonur by Arianespace affiliate Starsem.
Arianespace plans four to six Ariane 5 launches this year. The first, set for 26 February, will carry Europe's Rosetta comet explorer. A second attempt to fly the uprated Ariane 5ECA is due in mid-year, carrying the XTAR communications satellite and a dummy payload.
Russia made 21 flights last year and is to conduct its first launch of 2004 on 28 January, with a Soyuz booster due to fly from Baikonur carrying a Progress resupply vehicle to the International Space Station (ISS). The first of two Soyuz TMA manned flights to the ISS are due in April, carrying the next two-man expedition crew and a European astronaut. An October flight will carry a new expedition crew and a commercial space tourist.
China made six launches in 2003, including its first manned spaceflight, and plans 10 this year, including communications and meteorological satellites and the second Double Star spacecraft late in 2004. India plans to inaugurate a second launch pad at its Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota island in the second half of 2004, with a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle due to carry the Cartosat-1 Earth-imaging satellite.
There was only one launch failure in 2003, of Japan's H2A, but a Brazilian VLS small satellite launcher exploded on the pad during a check-out.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RADHAKRISHNA RAO IN BANGALORE
Source: Flight International
