Tim Furniss/LONDON
The third firing of the international Sea Launch booster failed on 13 March, with the loss of the first ICO Global Communications satellite. The lift-off, from the Odyssey platform in the mid-Pacific, 2,240km (1,390 miles) south-east of Hawaii, was the second commercial launch by the Boeing-led venture.
The booster was launched in a tight, 1s, window. The flight computer shut down the second stage engine 450s into the flight when it sensed the booster was not functioning correctly, giving rise to unconfirmed reports that a computer error just after lift-off allowed a pressure valve on the second stage to remain open. The booster and its 2,745kg (6,780lb) HS-601 fell into the Pacific, 4,160km downrange.
The failure "will have no significant adverse impact" on ICO's plans, says chief executive Richard Greco. ICO, due to be operational in 2002, had been rescued from threatened bankruptcy by an investment team led by Craig McCaw's Eagle River company, which has agreed to provide up to $1.2 billion. Following the experiences of its competitor Iridium, which is facing bankruptcy, ICO will restructure its services with an emphasis on global data transmissions and Internet connectivity.
The Hughes Space and Communications ICO craft use phased-array antennas and a state-of-the-art digital beam-forming processor, with the computing power of 600 Pentium IIIs. Ten prime and two back-up craft are being built, based on the HS-601 bus. They are 5m (16ft) higher, to fit the communications antennas. They will operate in 10,390km circular, 45°-inclination orbits.
Sea Launch's first launchers carried a dummy satellite and DirecTV 1R satellite last March and October, respectively. It had planned to launch up to four more commercial missions this year, carrying PanAmSat's PAS 9, two Thuraya communications satellites for the United Arab Emirates and a craft for XM Satellite Radio.
The failed launch was the only Sea Launch ICO flight planned. The rest will fly on five Delta IIIs, four International Launch Services (ILS) Russian Protons and two ILS Atlas 2AS.
Source: Flight International
