Tim Furniss/LONDON
HUGHES SPACE and Communications (HSCI) has signed for at least ten launches on the new Sea Launch commercial-satellite delivery system being developed and marketed by an international consortium led by Boeing. The Sea Launch will use the Ukraine's Zenit 2 booster, upgraded with a Russian DM cryogenic third stage used on the Proton K, and called the Zenit 3.
First launches from an offshore platform in the Pacific Ocean will be made in 1998. Hughes has booked launches for a five-year period, plus an undisclosed number of options. The Zenit 3 will carry HS-601 and new HS-702 communications-satellite models. "Sea Launch is another solution to what we see as a need for assured access to launch vehicles and launch slots," says Donald Cromer, HSCI chairman.
Hughes has a backlog of 41 satellites to be launched. The company had earlier booked ten launches on the new McDonnell Douglas Delta 3 launcher.
The Hughes contract is a boost to the Sea Launch team, which also includes RSC Energia of Russia, Ukraine's NPO Yuzhnoye, and Kvaerner of Norway. "This makes Sea Launch a real business", says Ronald Olsen, general manager.
The launcher will be processed at Home Port near Long Beach, California, and the 31,000t launch stand (a former, semi-submersible platform) and an accompanying command ship will sail into the Pacific for the equatorial launch.
Source: Flight International