Tim Furniss/LONDON
Russian-Franco commercial launch consortium Starsem completed its first mission on 9 February when a Soyuz booster lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying four Globalstar satellites.
Starsem, a joint venture involving Aerospatiale, Arianespace and Russian Soyuz builder Samara, plans to launch 20 more Loral Globalstar worldwide cellular mobile communications satellites on five Soyuz launches by the middle of next year. The booster is also booked to lift two Cluster science satellites in a single launch in 2000 for the European Space Agency.
There are now 12 Globalstar satellites in orbit out of the planned 48 operational and four available spares to be launched by mid-2000. The remaining launches will be completed by an Arianespace Ariane 4 in September, carrying four satellites, and seven Boeing Delta IIs - six of them this year - also each carrying four satellites.
It is planned that 64 satellites will be launched, to allow for potential in-orbit failures. Rival Motorola has already suffered in-orbit failures to 12 of the 86 similar Iridium satellites launched since May 1997. The business plans for both of the companies anticipate in-orbit failures as a price for launching large constellations in a relatively short period.
Globalstar was affected badly last September when a Russian-Ukrainian Zenit booster lost 12 satellites during a single failed launch. Eight Globalstar satellites have been launched successfully on Delta IIs.
Source: Flight International
