Sea Launch
Encyclopedia
Sea Launch is a spacecraft
launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equator
ial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets. It has assembled and launched thirty-one rockets, with two failures and one partial failure.
The sea-based launch system means the rockets can be fired from the optimum position on Earth's surface, considerably increasing payload capacity and reducing launch costs compared to land-based systems.
Sea Launch was established in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway
, Russia
, Ukraine
and the United States
, managed by Boeing
with participation from the other shareholders. The first rocket was launched in March 1999.
All commercial payloads have been communications satellites intended for geostationary transfer orbit
with such customers as EchoStar, DirecTV
, XM Satellite Radio
, and PanAmSat
.
The launcher and its payload are assembled on a purpose-built ship Sea Launch Commander
in Long Beach, California
, USA. It is then positioned on top of the self-propelled platform Ocean Odyssey
and moved to the equatorial Pacific Ocean
for launch, with the Sea Launch Commander serving as command center.
In June 2009 the provider of the Sea Launch service, Sea Launch Co. LLC, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection. Sea Launch emerged from bankruptcy effective October 27, 2010. Energia
Overseas Limited, a Russian corporation, is majority owner of the reorganized entity.
-registered Sea Launch.
It has been sold to Russian interests in October 2010 after going through Chapter 11 regulations.
The project was helped by Hughes Space and Communications
, which in 1995 signed the first contract for 10 launches and 10 options, valued at $1bn, and Space Systems/Loral
, which then signed a five-launch contract.
Total cost of the project has been reported at $583m in 1996. Chase Manhattan arranged about $400m in loans in 1996. Loans were later guaranteed against political instability in Russia and Ukraine through 2012 by the World Bank
(up to $175m, of these up to $100m in Russia and up to $75m in Ukraine) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(up to $65m).
Sea Launch has a reciprocal agreement with Arianespace
and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
through the Launch Services Alliance
, providing assurance in case either company's system is not able to launch a payload for reasons of reliability, capacity, backlog, or otherwise. This was used for the first time in 2004 when Arianespace’s Ariane 5
had to reschedule a group of launches for reliability reasons.
The Sea Launch consortium claims that their launch-related operating costs are lower than a land-based equivalent due in part to reduced staff requirements. The platform and command ship have 310 crew members.
On March 17, 2006 it was announced that Jim Maser, the President and General Manager of Sea Launch, would leave the company to join SpaceX
as President and Chief Operating Officer.
On June 22, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11
protection. Sea Launch asserts it will "continue to maintain all normal business operations after the filing for reorganization."
On August 6, 2010, Energia, which already owned 25% of Sea Launch, announced it planned to acquire a controlling interest of 85 % in the company. As a result, the company plans to begin land-based launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
in early 2011, while sea-based launches resumed in September 2011.
The first demonstration satellite was launched on March 27, 1999 and the first commercial satellite on October 9, 1999. Sea Launch has launched 29 rockets with 26 successes and 1 partial success as of September 2008. The first failure, of a Hughes
-built communications satellite owned by ICO Global Communications
, occurred on the second commercial launch on March 12, 2000 and was blamed on a software error that failed to close a valve in the second stage of the rocket.
A second rocket failed to launch on January 30, 2007, when Zenit-3SL exploded on the launch pad with the Boeing 702
NSS-8 satellite on board, seconds after engine ignition.
All Sea Launch missions to date have used the custom-designed three-stage Zenit-3SL launch vehicle, capable of placing up to six tonnes of payload in geosynchronous orbit. Sea Launch rocket components are manufactured by SDO Yuzhnoye
/ PO Yuzhmash
in Dnipropetrovsk
, Ukraine
(Zenit rocket
for the first and second stages); by Energia
in Moscow
, Russia
(Block DM-SL
for third stage); and by Boeing
in Seattle, United States
(payload fairing and interstage structure).
Sea Launch rockets are assembled in Long Beach
, California
. The typical assembly is done onboard the Assembly and Command Ship (the payload is first tested, fueled and encapsulated in the nearby Payload Processing Facility). The rocket is then transferred to a horizontal hangar on the self-propelled launch platform.
Following rocket tests, both ships then sail about 4,828 km to the equator
at 154° West Longitude, 0°N 154°W, in international waters about 370 km from Kiritimati
, Kiribati
. The platform travels the distance in about 11 days, the command ship in about eight days.
With the platform ballasted to its launch depth of 22 m, the hangar is opened, the rocket is mechanically moved to a vertical position, and the launch platform crew evacuates to the command ship which moves about five kilometers away. Then, with the launch platform unmanned, the rocket is fueled and launched. The final ten seconds before launch are called out simultaneously in English
and Russian
.
On January 30, 2007, the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL
rocket carrying NSS-8
and 500 tons of fuel exploded on launch.
Available imagery, which includes a , shows a fireball much larger than the launch platform at sea level.
Since the launch pad platform is vacated by all engineers during the automated launch process, there were no injuries. On February 1, 2007 Sea Launch released a statement detailing its status.
It is believed that the failure was caused by a foreign object being ingested by the engine, causing the rocket to crash immediately.
On February 3, 2007, photographs of the damage were posted on internet forums. The launch platform damage is mostly superficial, though blast deflectors underneath the launch platform were knocked loose and were lost when they fell into the sea.
In March 2007, shortly after the NSS-8 launch failure, Hughes Network Systems switched the launch of SPACEWAY-3
from a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL to an Ariane 5
.
Repairs of the launch platform were completed in September, 2007. The Sea Launch platform underwent repairs in Canada
, docked near CFB Esquimalt
, just west of Victoria, British Columbia
, and departed on July 31, 2007. Both vessels returned to their home port in Long Beach, California
.
for technical violations of Arms Export Control Act
in handling of missile technology while dealing with its foreign Sea Launch partners, the largest civil penalty of its kind (although it could have been as much as 102 million USD). The Sea Launch project was suspended for two months during the investigation.
The Department of State found that between January 1994 and January 1998 Boeing illegally exported "defense articles" and "defense services", although no national security breaches were determined. The violations were uncovered by Boeing's internal investigation.
At about the same time United States Customs Service
attempted to block Sea Launch from bringing Zenit 3SL rockets (classified as missiles) into California
for assembly without a munitions import licence. The matter was settled in the company's favour.
Also in 1998, 16 member states of the South Pacific Forum
issued a communiqué asking the United States to suspend the project indefinitely until and unless their environmental concerns are remedied. It was mostly criticized by the island nation of Kiribati
.
The project was criticized in 1997 by International Transport Workers' Federation
(ITWF) for registering its sea vessels in Liberia
. In May 1999 Sea Launch reached an agreement with the ITWF, which allows crew members to use ITWF inspectors.
, the “Land Launch” system is based on a modified version of the Sea Launch vehicle, the three-stage Zenit 3SL rocket. Land Launch's Zenit 3SLB vehicle addresses the launch needs of commercial satellites weighing up to three-and-a-half metric tonnes. The two-stage Zenit-2SLB is also available for lifting payloads up to thirteen metric tonnes to inclined low Earth orbits.
The first launch was on April 28, 2008, when a Zenit-3SLB
launched Spacecom Ltd's AMOS-3
spacecraft from LC-45/1 at Baikonur.
There are several advantages of an ocean-based, equatorial launch platform over a conventional land-based one:
in Italy
and NASA
launched a number of spacecraft from the San Marco platform
off the coast of Kenya
. Unlike the Sea Launch platform, the San Marco platform was not self-propelled, instead being towed by a tug. It also stood on the seabed during launches, whereas Sea Launch is stabilised in open water by a dynamic positioning system.
rockets have been used to orbit payloads launched from submarines. Unlike Sea Launch, which performs launches of geosynchronous satellites from the equator, Shtil rockets were launched from the Arctic ocean.
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
ial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets. It has assembled and launched thirty-one rockets, with two failures and one partial failure.
The sea-based launch system means the rockets can be fired from the optimum position on Earth's surface, considerably increasing payload capacity and reducing launch costs compared to land-based systems.
Sea Launch was established in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, managed by Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
with participation from the other shareholders. The first rocket was launched in March 1999.
All commercial payloads have been communications satellites intended for geostationary transfer orbit
Geostationary transfer orbit
A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit is a Hohmann transfer orbit used to reach geosynchronous or geostationary orbit....
with such customers as EchoStar, DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
, XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
, and PanAmSat
PanAmSat
The former PanAmSat Corporation founded in 1984 by Reynold Anselmo, was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. It operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and...
.
The launcher and its payload are assembled on a purpose-built ship Sea Launch Commander
Sea Launch Commander
Sea Launch Commander is the command ship for Sea Launch. It was built by Kvaerner Govan Ltd, at Govan shipyard, in Glasgow, Scotland. It is registered in Liberia.- Technical parameters:...
in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, USA. It is then positioned on top of the self-propelled platform Ocean Odyssey
Ocean Odyssey
|-External links:*...
and moved to the equatorial Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
for launch, with the Sea Launch Commander serving as command center.
In June 2009 the provider of the Sea Launch service, Sea Launch Co. LLC, filed for Chapter 11
Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
bankruptcy protection. Sea Launch emerged from bankruptcy effective October 27, 2010. Energia
S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
OAO S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia , also known as RKK Energiya, is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components...
Overseas Limited, a Russian corporation, is majority owner of the reorganized entity.
Ownership and business
Four companies from four countries shared the original ownership of Cayman IslandsCayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
-registered Sea Launch.
It has been sold to Russian interests in October 2010 after going through Chapter 11 regulations.
| Company | Country of origin | Ownership share | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing Commercial Space Boeing The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001... |
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
40% | System integration, payload enclosures (nose-cone that protects the satellite during launch) |
| Energia S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia OAO S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia , also known as RKK Energiya, is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components... |
Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... |
25% | Block DM-SL Block D Blok D is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit. There were plans to use it for some other rockets as well .... rocket stage (it is used in the Zenit 3SL rocket as its 3rd stage) |
| Aker Solutions | Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
20% | Launch platform (Ocean Odyssey Ocean Odyssey |-External links:*... ) and command ship (Sea Launch Commander Sea Launch Commander Sea Launch Commander is the command ship for Sea Launch. It was built by Kvaerner Govan Ltd, at Govan shipyard, in Glasgow, Scotland. It is registered in Liberia.- Technical parameters:... ) |
| SDO Yuzhnoye Yuzhnoye Design Bureau Yuzhnoye Design Bureau , located in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles established by Mikhail Yangel. Yuzhnoye's OKB designation was OKB-586.... / PO Yuzhmash Yuzhmash The A.M. Makarov Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant, or PA Yuzhmash is a Ukrainian manufacturer of space rockets, agricultural equipment, buses, trolley buses and trams, wind turbines, and satellites... |
Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia... |
15% | Two-stage Zenit rocket Zenit rocket Zenit is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine. Zenit was built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone rocket... (used as Zenit 3SL's stages 1 and 2) |
The project was helped by Hughes Space and Communications
Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
, which in 1995 signed the first contract for 10 launches and 10 options, valued at $1bn, and Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral , of Palo Alto, California, is the wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. It was acquired in 1990 for $715 million by Loral Corp. from Ford Motor Company as the Space Systems Division of Ford Aerospace...
, which then signed a five-launch contract.
Total cost of the project has been reported at $583m in 1996. Chase Manhattan arranged about $400m in loans in 1996. Loans were later guaranteed against political instability in Russia and Ukraine through 2012 by the World Bank
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries.The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary...
(up to $175m, of these up to $100m in Russia and up to $75m in Ukraine) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Founded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Its mission was to support the formerly communist countries in the process of establishing their...
(up to $65m).
Sea Launch has a reciprocal agreement with Arianespace
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....
and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...
through the Launch Services Alliance
Launch Services Alliance
In July 2003, Arianespace joined with Boeing Launch Services and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to create the Launch Services Alliance. The flagship launchers for the Launch Services Alliance are Arianespace's Ariane rocket, Boeing's Sea Launch platform and Mitsubishi's H-II A vehicle...
, providing assurance in case either company's system is not able to launch a payload for reasons of reliability, capacity, backlog, or otherwise. This was used for the first time in 2004 when Arianespace’s Ariane 5
Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...
had to reschedule a group of launches for reliability reasons.
The Sea Launch consortium claims that their launch-related operating costs are lower than a land-based equivalent due in part to reduced staff requirements. The platform and command ship have 310 crew members.
On March 17, 2006 it was announced that Jim Maser, the President and General Manager of Sea Launch, would leave the company to join SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...
as President and Chief Operating Officer.
On June 22, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11
Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
protection. Sea Launch asserts it will "continue to maintain all normal business operations after the filing for reorganization."
On August 6, 2010, Energia, which already owned 25% of Sea Launch, announced it planned to acquire a controlling interest of 85 % in the company. As a result, the company plans to begin land-based launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
in early 2011, while sea-based launches resumed in September 2011.
Launches
Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
-built communications satellite owned by ICO Global Communications
ICO Satellite Management
ICO Global Communications Limited is a mobile satellite services company based in Reston, Virginia.The company is seeking to build a hybrid satellite and terrestrial network to broadcast wireless voice, data, and/or Internet services to mobile and portable devices.In April 2008 it launched the...
, occurred on the second commercial launch on March 12, 2000 and was blamed on a software error that failed to close a valve in the second stage of the rocket.
A second rocket failed to launch on January 30, 2007, when Zenit-3SL exploded on the launch pad with the Boeing 702
Boeing 702
Boeing 702 is a communications satellite design. The Boeing Satellite Development Center tailors the payload of each Boeing 702 to meet customer specifications based on a modular design but with usually more than seventy transponders....
NSS-8 satellite on board, seconds after engine ignition.
All Sea Launch missions to date have used the custom-designed three-stage Zenit-3SL launch vehicle, capable of placing up to six tonnes of payload in geosynchronous orbit. Sea Launch rocket components are manufactured by SDO Yuzhnoye
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau , located in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles established by Mikhail Yangel. Yuzhnoye's OKB designation was OKB-586....
/ PO Yuzhmash
Yuzhmash
The A.M. Makarov Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant, or PA Yuzhmash is a Ukrainian manufacturer of space rockets, agricultural equipment, buses, trolley buses and trams, wind turbines, and satellites...
in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(Zenit rocket
Zenit rocket
Zenit is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine. Zenit was built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone rocket...
for the first and second stages); by Energia
Energia
Energia was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran spacecraft. Control system main developer enterprise was the NPO "Electropribor"...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(Block DM-SL
Block D
Blok D is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit. There were plans to use it for some other rockets as well ....
for third stage); and by Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
in Seattle, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(payload fairing and interstage structure).
Sea Launch rockets are assembled in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The typical assembly is done onboard the Assembly and Command Ship (the payload is first tested, fueled and encapsulated in the nearby Payload Processing Facility). The rocket is then transferred to a horizontal hangar on the self-propelled launch platform.
Following rocket tests, both ships then sail about 4,828 km to the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
at 154° West Longitude, 0°N 154°W, in international waters about 370 km from Kiritimati
Kiritimati
Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....
, Kiribati
Kiribati
Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...
. The platform travels the distance in about 11 days, the command ship in about eight days.
With the platform ballasted to its launch depth of 22 m, the hangar is opened, the rocket is mechanically moved to a vertical position, and the launch platform crew evacuates to the command ship which moves about five kilometers away. Then, with the launch platform unmanned, the rocket is fueled and launched. The final ten seconds before launch are called out simultaneously in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
| Date | Payload | Mass | Result | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 27, 1999 | DemoSat DemoSat A DemoSat is a boilerplate spacecraft used to test a carrier rocket without risking a real satellite on the launch. They are most commonly flown on the maiden flights of rockets, but have also been flown on return-to-flight missions after launch failures... |
4.5 t Tonne The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI... |
success | 1 |
| October 9, 1999 | DIRECTV DirecTV DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ... 1-R |
3.5 t | success | 2 |
| March 12, 2000 | ICO ICO Satellite Management ICO Global Communications Limited is a mobile satellite services company based in Reston, Virginia.The company is seeking to build a hybrid satellite and terrestrial network to broadcast wireless voice, data, and/or Internet services to mobile and portable devices.In April 2008 it launched the... F-1 |
2.7 t | failure | 3 |
| July 28, 2000 | PAS PanAmSat The former PanAmSat Corporation founded in 1984 by Reynold Anselmo, was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. It operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and... -9 |
3.7 t | success | 4 |
| October 20, 2000 | Thuraya-1 | 5.1 t | success | 5 |
| March 18, 2001 | XM XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional... -2 ROCK |
4.7 t | success | 6 |
| May 8, 2001 | XM-1 ROLL | 4.7 t | success | 7 |
| June 15, 2002 | Galaxy IIIC | 4.9 t | success | 8 |
| June 10, 2003 | Thuraya-2 | 5.2 t | success | 9 |
| August 7, 2003 | EchoStar IX/Telstar Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites, including the first such satellite to relay television signals.The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962... 13 |
4.7 t | success | 10 |
| September 30, 2003 | Galaxy XIII/Horizons-1 | 4.1 t | success | 11 |
| January 10, 2004 | Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 | 4.7 t | success | 12 |
| May 4, 2004 | DIRECTV-7S | 5.5 t | success | 13 |
| June 28, 2004 | Telstar-18 | 4.8 t | launch anomaly | 14 |
| March 1, 2005 | XM-3 | 4.7 t | success | 15 |
| April 26, 2005 | SPACEWAY-1 SPACEWAY-1 Spaceway F1 is part of DirecTV’s constellation of direct broadcast satellites. The satellite was launched via a Zenit 3SL rocket from Sea Launch’s Odyssey equatorial platform on April 26, 2005. Its operational position is in geosynchronous orbit above the equator at 102.8 degrees west longitude.... |
6.0 t | success | 16 |
| June 23, 2005 | Intelsat Intelsat Intelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast... IA-8 |
5.5 t | success | 17 |
| November 8, 2005 | Inmarsat International Mobile Satellite Organization The International Mobile Satellite Organization is the intergovernmental organization that oversees certain public satellite safety and security communication services provided via the Inmarsat satellites... 4-F2 |
6.0 t | success | 18 |
| February 15, 2006 | EchoStar X EchoStar X EchoStar X, also known as EchoStar 10, is an American geostationary communications satellite which is operated by EchoStar on behalf of Dish Network. It is positioned in Geostationary orbit at a longitude of 110° West, from where it is used to provide direct broadcasting services to the United... |
4.3 t | success | 19 |
| April 12, 2006 | JCSAT-9 JCSAT-9 JCSAT-5A, formerly JCSAT-9, is a Japanese telecommunications satellite. It was launched by a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket on the 12 April 2006 from the offshore Ocean Odyssey launch platform. Launch occurred at 23:29:59 GMT. Separation from the launch vehicle occurred at 00:38:02 GMT, and it is now... |
4.4 t | success | 20 |
| June 18, 2006 | Galaxy 16 | 5.1 t | success | 21 |
| August 22, 2006 | Koreasat 5 | 4.9 t | success | 22 |
| October 30, 2006 | XM-4 | 4.7 t | success | 23 |
| January 30, 2007 | NSS-8 NSS-8 NSS-8 was a Dutch telecommunications satellite that was destroyed during launch. It was a Boeing 702 spacecraft with 56 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders, and it was part of the SES NEW SKIES.... |
5.9 t | failure | 24 |
| January 15, 2008 | Thuraya Thuraya Thuraya , the Arabic name of the Pleiades, is a regional satellite phone provider. Its coverage area is most of Europe, the Middle East, North, Central and East Africa, Asia and Australia.... -3 |
5.2 t | success | 25 |
| March 19, 2008 | DirecTV-11 DirecTV-11 DirecTV-11, also known as D11, is a Boeing model 702 satellite built by the Boeing Satellite Development Center.- Technology :This satellite is functionally identical to DirecTV-10 and is co-located with SPACEWAY-2 at or very near 99.225°W.- Launch data :... |
5.9 t | success | 26 |
| May 21, 2008 | Galaxy 18 Galaxy 18 Galaxy 18 is a Space Systems/Loral 1300-series hybrid communications satellite owned by Intelsat and located in geosynchronous orbit at 123° W longitude, serving the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and Canada with 24 C-band, and 24 Ku band transponders... |
4.6 t | success | 27 |
| July 16, 2008 | EchoStar XI | 5.5 t | success | 28 |
| September 24, 2008 | Galaxy 19 Galaxy 19 Galaxy 19 is a communications satellite owned by Intelsat located at 97° West longitude, serving the North American market. Galaxy 19 replaced Galaxy 25 which is nearing the end of its design life and has been moved to 93.1°W longitude. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, as part of its FS-1300... |
4.7 t | success | 29 |
| April 20, 2009 | SICRAL 1B | 3.0 t | success | 30 |
| September 24, 2011 | Atlantic Bird 7 | 4.6 t | success | 31 |
NSS-8 launch failure
Zenit rocket
Zenit is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine. Zenit was built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone rocket...
rocket carrying NSS-8
NSS-8
NSS-8 was a Dutch telecommunications satellite that was destroyed during launch. It was a Boeing 702 spacecraft with 56 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders, and it was part of the SES NEW SKIES....
and 500 tons of fuel exploded on launch.
Available imagery, which includes a , shows a fireball much larger than the launch platform at sea level.
Since the launch pad platform is vacated by all engineers during the automated launch process, there were no injuries. On February 1, 2007 Sea Launch released a statement detailing its status.
It is believed that the failure was caused by a foreign object being ingested by the engine, causing the rocket to crash immediately.
On February 3, 2007, photographs of the damage were posted on internet forums. The launch platform damage is mostly superficial, though blast deflectors underneath the launch platform were knocked loose and were lost when they fell into the sea.
In March 2007, shortly after the NSS-8 launch failure, Hughes Network Systems switched the launch of SPACEWAY-3
SPACEWAY-3
SPACEWAY-3 is a communications satellite which, as of August 2007, is undergoing on-orbit testing after its successful launch. The third satellite in the SPACEWAY series, it includes a Ka-band communications payload...
from a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL to an Ariane 5
Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...
.
Repairs of the launch platform were completed in September, 2007. The Sea Launch platform underwent repairs in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, docked near CFB Esquimalt
CFB Esquimalt
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt is Canada's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters....
, just west of Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, and departed on July 31, 2007. Both vessels returned to their home port in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
.
Concerns and investigations
During project development in 1998 Boeing was fined $10m by United States Department of StateUnited States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
for technical violations of Arms Export Control Act
Arms Export Control Act
The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 gives the President of the United States the authority to control the import and export of defense articles and defense services. It requires governments that receive weapons from the United States to use them for legitimate self-defense...
in handling of missile technology while dealing with its foreign Sea Launch partners, the largest civil penalty of its kind (although it could have been as much as 102 million USD). The Sea Launch project was suspended for two months during the investigation.
The Department of State found that between January 1994 and January 1998 Boeing illegally exported "defense articles" and "defense services", although no national security breaches were determined. The violations were uncovered by Boeing's internal investigation.
At about the same time United States Customs Service
United States Customs Service
Until March 2003, the United States Customs Service was an agency of the U.S. federal government that collected import tariffs and performed other selected border security duties.Before it was rolled into form part of the U.S...
attempted to block Sea Launch from bringing Zenit 3SL rockets (classified as missiles) into California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for assembly without a munitions import licence. The matter was settled in the company's favour.
Also in 1998, 16 member states of the South Pacific Forum
Pacific Islands Forum
The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum...
issued a communiqué asking the United States to suspend the project indefinitely until and unless their environmental concerns are remedied. It was mostly criticized by the island nation of Kiribati
Kiribati
Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...
.
The project was criticized in 1997 by International Transport Workers' Federation
International Transport Workers' Federation
The International Transport Workers' Federation is a global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2009 the ITF had 654 member organizations in 148 countries, representing a combined membership of 4.5 million workers....
(ITWF) for registering its sea vessels in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
. In May 1999 Sea Launch reached an agreement with the ITWF, which allows crew members to use ITWF inspectors.
Land launch
Using existing Zenit infrastructure at the Baikonur CosmodromeBaikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...
, the “Land Launch” system is based on a modified version of the Sea Launch vehicle, the three-stage Zenit 3SL rocket. Land Launch's Zenit 3SLB vehicle addresses the launch needs of commercial satellites weighing up to three-and-a-half metric tonnes. The two-stage Zenit-2SLB is also available for lifting payloads up to thirteen metric tonnes to inclined low Earth orbits.
The first launch was on April 28, 2008, when a Zenit-3SLB
Zenit rocket
Zenit is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine. Zenit was built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone rocket...
launched Spacecom Ltd's AMOS-3
AMOS-3
AMOS-3, also known as AMOS-60 is an Israeli communications satellite operated by Spacecom. The satellite is powered by twin solar panels, and is based on the Israeli AMOS bus. It will replace AMOS-1 in geosynchronous orbit at 4°W...
spacecraft from LC-45/1 at Baikonur.
Advantages of equatorial ocean-platform based launches
- The rotational speed of the Earth is greatest at the equator, providing a minor extra launch "boost".
- The need for a "plane change" to the zero degree inclination of geostationary orbit is eliminated, providing a major extra launch "boost". The same rocket launched from Cape CanaveralCape Canaveral Air Force StationCape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in the state of Florida, CCAFS is the primary launch head of America's Eastern Range with four launch pads...
at 28.5 degrees north latitude would lift 15%–20% less mass to geostationary orbit. - An ocean launch reduces risks related to launching over populated areas, providing better safety to third parties.
- Absence of range conflicts with other launch systems and a near total absence of ship or overhead air traffic that would constrain launch.
- Any orbital inclination could be reached, thus (for example) combining in one launch site the attainable inclinations of both Cape Canaveral and VandenbergVandenberg Air Force BaseVandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....
.
Similar projects
Although Sea Launch is currently the world's only ocean-based space launch company, the idea of launching satellites from marine vessel is not unique.San Marco platform
Between 1964 and 1988 the University of Rome La SapienzaUniversity of Rome La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
launched a number of spacecraft from the San Marco platform
San Marco platform
The Luigi Broglio Space Centre is an Italian-owned spaceport near Malindi, Kenya, named after its founder and Italian space pioneer Luigi Broglio. Developed in the 1960s through a partnership between the University of Rome La Sapienza's Aerospace Research Centre and NASA, the BSC served as a...
off the coast of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. Unlike the Sea Launch platform, the San Marco platform was not self-propelled, instead being towed by a tug. It also stood on the seabed during launches, whereas Sea Launch is stabilised in open water by a dynamic positioning system.
Shtil
Shtil'Shtil'
Space launch vehicle Shtil Space launch vehicle Shtil Space launch vehicle Shtil (Russian: (Штиль - calm (weather)), is a converted SLBM used for launching artificial satellites into orbit. It is based on the R-29RM designed by State Rocket Center Makeyev and related to the Volna Launch Vehicle....
rockets have been used to orbit payloads launched from submarines. Unlike Sea Launch, which performs launches of geosynchronous satellites from the equator, Shtil rockets were launched from the Arctic ocean.
See also
- Expendable launch systemExpendable launch systemAn expendable launch system is a launch system that uses an expendable launch vehicle to carry a payload into space. The vehicles used in expendable launch systems are designed to be used only once , and their components are not recovered for re-use after launch...
- Launch vehicle types by launch platform
- Sea DragonSea Dragon (Rocket)The Sea Dragon was a 1962 design study for a fully reusable two-stage sea-launched rocket. The project was led by Robert Truax while working at Aerojet, one of a number of designs he created that were to be launched by floating the rocket in the ocean...