ICO's First Satellite Launch Ends In The Pacific
Source URL: asia.dailynews.yahoo.com
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 2000 MAR 13 (NB) -- By Steve Gold, Newsbytes.
It's not been a good week for satellite telephony, as, in the wake of the possible demise of the Iridium satphone operation, ICO Global's
first satellite launch on Mar. 12 ended in a watery grave somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
With the embarrassment of Iridium potentially closing down its network on Mar. 17, ICO Global - also operating under the specter of
Chapter 11 protection - was clearly hoping for a smooth launch of its satellite on board a rocket from the specially-adapted oil platform
Sunday.
This was not to happen and, around seven minutes after a glitch-free launch, the decision to abort the mission was taken, owing to "an
anomaly" occurring in the rocket's guidance system.
In a prepared statement, Will Trafton, Sea Launch's president, said that the team was extremely disappointed with the failure.
"I offer my sincerest regrets to Hughes and ICO - and I assure all of our customers that we will determine the cause of this failure and
the necessary corrective actions and will share this information when it is available," he said.
The press office said that the Sea Launch rocket lifted off in a southeasterly direction from the company's mobile launch platform,
approximately 230 miles from Kiritimati (Christmas) Island in the Pacific.
Loss of communication of the launch vehicle occurred several minutes into the flight when the Sea Launch Commander, the assembly
and command ship (ACS), lost flight data signals from the rocket.
Trafton said that satellite launches are a tough business and, because of this, failures are an unfortunate part of the industry.
Boeing, meanwhile, confirmed that after an apparently successful liftoff at 6:49 a.m., PST, the Sea Launch rocket carrying the ICO F-1
mobile communications satellite suffered an anomaly.
Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Space & Communications Group, said the firm regrets the impact that this failure will have on both
ICO and Hughes.
Newsbytes notes that Boeing is one of four partners in the multinational Sea Launch consortium. Other partners include Energia of
Russia, Kvaerner Maritime of Norway and KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Ukraine.
ICO Global has yet to make a statement on the launch failure. Media reports of the satellite launch failure suggest that the launch was
fully insured, In addition, ICO has said previously that it needs only 10 of its planned 12 satellites to offer its satellite telephony
service in 2001.
ICO Global's Web site is at ico.com .
=====
Don't worry ,they're insured and have spares, but the delay won't help any. |
