RUSSIAN LAUNCHER Company STC Komplex will press ahead with plans to offer international commercial launches, despite the failure of its Start satellite launcher on March 28, claims director Yuri Solomonov.
Solomonov claims that the booster is still operational despite the failure of the inaugural launch, which resulted in the loss of Israel's Gurwin 1 research satellite and Russian and Mexican spacecraft,
He adds that Komplex plans to offer the SS-25-based launcher to the Australian Space Council for orbital transport services from a potential site north of Darwin, or from sites in Woomera, South Australia, and in Western Australia.
Operational commercial launches, from Australian and other sites, will be offered to customers worldwide for $6 million, Solomonov says, claiming that the Start has 12 commercial contracts with "companies in the USA and South Africa" (referring to the cancelled South African Greensat).
The Russian inquiry into the Start incident confirms that the March 28 failure was caused by an electrical fault, which shut down the fourth stage 12s early. This prevented the ignition of the untested fifth stage, causing the rocket to plunge into a remote area east of the Yana River estuary of the Laptev Sea.
"Although our contract didn't cover a repeat launch, we consider it a moral duty to offer Israel compensation," says Solomonov, suggesting a possible free launch.
Professor Zeev Tadmor, director of Israel's Technion Institute of Technology, whose $3.5 million Gurwin 1 was not insured, says that he is planning to build a second satellite, which will cost less. Israel paid $250,000 for the fully configured Start test flight.
Source: Flight International
