The path to success suddenly has turned bumpy for Sea Launch, an
international venture that aims to meet the increasing demand for
relatively inexpensive, reliable commercial satellite-launch service.
Sea Launch was formed in 1995, by Boeing Commercial Space Co.,
of Seattle; Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner Group, of Oslo, Norway; RSC-Energia,
of Moscow, and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash, of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.
Operating from a home port in Long Beach, Calif., Sea Launch places
commercial satellites into orbit from a modified, ocean-going, oil-drilling
platform positioned on the equator, in the Pacific Ocean, 1,500
nautical miles south of Hawaii, according to Donald I. Carter, vice
president for operations. At the recent NDIA Science & Technology
Conference at the Johns Hopkins Applied Science and Technology Laboratory
in Laurel, Md., Carter explained how the system works:
Launch operations begin at Long Beach, where the satellite is received
and encapsulated into the payload unit. Then, the payload unit is
transferred to the Commander for integration with the launch vehicle.
Next, the now-complete launch vehicle-still lying on its side-is
transferred to the Odyssey, stood upright inside the hangar and
stored during the long transit to the launch site. The launch is
managed from the ship, with English and Russian speaking teams using
two-way translation services.
"It makes for one hell of a cultural experience," said
Carter. The operation contributes to international stability, he
said, by giving the Russians and Ukrainians a peaceful way to use
their space-launch capabilities.
Sea Launch has contracts for 19 launches. It performed two successful
launches in 1999, one with a demonstration payload in March and
another in September, placing a DirecTV satellite into orbit with
"bull's-eye accuracy," a spokesman said.
Then, in March of this year, the firm tried to place a 6,000-pound
ICO F-1 communications satellite into orbit some 6,500 miles above
the earth. Several minutes into the flight, the second stage of
the rocket malfunctioned, the flight was terminated and the launch
vehicle-with its payload-fell into a remote and unpopulated part
of the South Pacific.
A review board, representing the four partners, is completing an
investigation into causes of the mishap. Thus far, said a spokesman,
findings point to a ground software logic error and an associated
valve-closure failure as the culprits.
The company has announced plans to proceed with return-to-flight
activities in preparation for a launch this summer.