Kazakhstan launch ban has MSS firms reviewing plans
July 9, 1999
By Antony Bruno
The government of Kazakhstan's temporary ban on Russian rocket
launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome has mobile satellite service
providers with upcoming launch dates there watching the situation
carefully.
The ban was initiated after a Russian-made Proton K booster rocket
carrying a Russian military satellite exploded and rained debris over
neighboring villages in the country. The Kazakh government, which owns
the facility but leases it to Russia for launches, said it would allow no
further launches until an investigation into the explosion is complete. That
investigation is expected to last at least a month.
Mobile satellite companies with scheduled launches from the Baikonur
facility include ICO Global Communications and Globalstar
Communications L.P. Both are in the process of establishing their
respective low-earth-orbit satellite networks. Whether this temporary ban
will interrupt either company's schedule remains unclear.
Globalstar's next several launches have been scheduled to take place at
Cape Canaveral, Fla., but the company does have several other launch
dates reserved at Baikonur for later this year.
ICO, which has yet to launch a satellite, has greater concerns. The
company planned to commence with its launch schedule later this year
using the Proton K rocket from the Baikonur facility.
‘‘As a consequence of the Proton failure, the rocket is grounded,'' said
Joe Tedino, ICO spokesman. ‘‘Our launch manifest is under review.''
ICO intends to use several different rockets in its launch rollout. They
include the Proton K, the Atlas II, the Delta III and the modified Zenit
rocket from SeaLaunch.
However, the Delta III rocket also is grounded pending investigation of an
April incident in which the rocket's second stage booster failed to place an
Orion satellite in its proper orbit, resulting in a complete loss.
While Tedino said these investigations are of some concern, he said they
do not represent a delay for ICO's launch schedule, as there has never
been a specific launch date to miss.
‘‘It's not like we were supposed to launch next week and now we can't,''
he said. ‘‘We expect to launch in the next few months, but we just don't
know specifically when.''
Despite the recent failure, Tedino expressed faith in the Proton K rocket.
‘‘It's a proven rocket,'' he said. ‘‘It's reliability percentage is somewhere
in the nineties.''
The Proton K rocket is marketed by an international consortium called
International Launch Services, made up in part by U.S. firm Lockheed
Martin Corp. and Russian companies RSC Energia and Khrunichev,
which actually builds the rocket. The failed rocket was testing a new type
of upper stage rocket designed to better carry satellites to orbit.
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July 12, 1999
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