Tim Furniss/LONDON
Russia launched two Yamal communications satellites on a Proton K booster from Baikonur on 6 September, marking the first launch of a Proton booster since launches from Baikonur were banned by Kazakhstan after the Proton M failure on 5 July.
The launch was also the first by a Proton to carry two communications satellites into geostationary orbit (GEO).
Soon after launch, however, one of the two Yamal satellites "encountered problems", says the craft's builder Energia. The satellite failed to respond to commands, but controllers believe that they can send signals to regain control.
The Yamal 100s, the first communications satellites to be built by the Energia company for 10 years, are owned and operated by Russian oil company Gasprom and will be used by over 300,000 oil industry personnel in the remote oil-rich areas of far eastern Russia and Siberia.
The successful Proton launch cleared the way for a resumption of commercial flights by International Launch Services (ILS) from Baikonur. The first Proton payload will be the Lockheed Martin-Intersputnik venture's LM-1 communications satellite in late September. A critical non-commercial Proton three- stage version launch of the International Space Station Zvezda service module can go ahead as planned on 12 November.
ILS Atlas boosters, meanwhile, were scheduled to be back in business on 13 September, launching a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS booster with the Echostar V communications satellite from Cape Canaveral. The Atlas fleet was grounded following the failure of an RL-10 engine on the second Delta III booster in May.
• Arianespace launched its 46th consecutive successful Ariane 4 on 4 September, carrying the Korea Telecom Lockheed Martin-built Koreasat 3 communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. The launch was delayed while checks were made on the Lockheed Martin satellite to ensure that it would not experience the solar array problem that has hit sister-satellite Telkom 1, launched by an Ariane in August. A drive motor on one of Telkom 1's arrays is not working and may affect the spacecraft's operational life.
• The Boeing-led international Sea Launch organisation is to make its first commercial launch from an offshore platform in the Pacific Ocean in early to mid-October, with the company's Ukrainian-Russian Zenit 3SL booster carrying a DirecTV 1R satellite.
Source: Flight International
