| General Information |
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Prime:
Operator:
Marketing Arm:
Maiden
Flight:
Number Flown (Failures):
Reliability
Rate:
Status:
Reported
Launch Price:
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Boeing
Commercial Space Co.
Sea Launch Co.
Sea Launch Co.
March
28, 1999
7 (1)
85.7%
Operational
US$75/85 million (1999)
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Architecture:
Gross
Lift-off Mass:
Height:
Main Diameter:
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Expendable:
Two-stage hydrocarbon
+ hydrocarbon
upper stage
472,000 kg
59.6
m
3.9 m
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Launcher
Architecture
Payload
Accommodations
Industrial Team
Launch Log
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| Background |
Boeing studies regarding the Sea Launch concept
reportedly began in early 1994 based on the availability of two
major elements: the 31,000-t Odyssey semi-submersible off-shore
platform, which could be modified into a launch platform, and
the Zenit 2 highly automated launch vehicle, designed to be launched
with 48-hour notice. The concept was aimed at building a competitive
advantage based on the reduction of infrastructure costs and
the unique capabilities of the Zenit launcher from an Equatorial
launch site as well as bringing back Boeing as a major player
in commercial space transportation in order to prepare for commercial
operations of its proposed semi-reusable Evolved Expendable Launch
Vehicle (EELV).
Boeing was not
selected for the EELV in December 1996 and eventually entered
the space transportation market by taking over McDonnell Douglas
in August 1997. Nevertheless Boeing proceeded with Sea Launch.
The Zenit 3SL vehicle
is actually a derivative of the Zenit 3 concept developed
by NPO Yuzhnoye and NPO Energiya in the late 1980s as a possible
replacement to the vintage Proton K/DM vehicle. It features a reinforced two-stage Zenit
vehicle with a modified Block DM upper stage inherited from
the Proton and N-1 launchers.
The Sea
Launch venture was formed in April 1995 between Boeing
Commercial Space Co., RKK Energiya,
Kvaerner Maritime AS and NPO
Yuzhnoye. It landed its first order for ten launches from
Hughes Space
& Communications in December 1995, followed by an order
for five launches from Space
Systems/Loral in July 1996.
Refurbishing
of the Odyssey launch platform and construction of Sea Launch
Commander assembly & control ship lasted from 1995 to 1998
when they were transferred to Sea Launch’s Home Port in Long
Beach, California.
Total cost
of the project has been reported at US$583 million in 1996.
In mid-1996, about US$400 million in loans were arranged
by Chase Manhattan.
In 1997, the World
Bank provided guarantee for up to US$175 million of
loans (US$100 million in Russia, US$75 million in Ukraine)
against political instability in the countries through 2012.
The European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided similar
guarantee for an additional US$65 million.
The first launch, initially slated
for mid-1998, was delayed several times due to technology transfer
issues and the loss of a Zenit 2 vehicle in September 1998.
The planned payload for the maiden flight, PanAmSat‘s Galaxy 11, was eventually
moved on an Ariane 44L-3 vehicle and replaced by a mock-up, dubbed DemoSat,
which was successfully sent into geostationary transfer orbit
on March 28, 1999.
The first operational flight, on October 10,
1999, lofted Hughes’ DirecTV-1R satellite.
The
Zenit 3SL experienced its first launch failure on March 12,
2000, on its third mission.
Planned
improvements of the Zenit 3SL include a better management
of propellant margins in order to increase the payload capability
to geostationary transfer orbit to about 5,500 kg by early
2002 and over 6,000 kg by late 2002. Structural limitations
of the current vehicle design are reportedly 6,200 kg for
GTO and 7,000 kg for low Earth orbit.
Space
analysts expected Boeing to withdraw from the Sea Launch venture
circa 2003/2004 after the introduction of its Delta 4
family of launchers but Sea Launch announced in September 2000
that it was studying a mutual back-up between the Zenit 3SL
and Boeing’s Delta 4. A formal agreement was signed in March 2001. |
More
on the history of the Zenit family (soon to come)
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| Payload Performances |
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From Odyssey Launch
Platform:
(0°, 154°W)
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Geostationary
Transfer Orbit
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(200 x 35,786 km, 0°) |
5,250 kg
(to be upgraded to
6,000 kg) |
Geostationary
Orbit
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(35,786 km, 0°) |
1,840 kg
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Medium
Earth Orbit
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(10,000 km, 45°) |
3,965 kg
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Low
Earth Orbit
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(3rd stage structural limitation) |
7,000 kg
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- Sources:
- Interview with Amy L. Buhrig, VP Marketing,
Sea Launch. 3rd World Summit on the Space Transportation Business.
Paris, May 17-18, 2001.
- Presentation by Wilbur Trafton, President
& General Manager, Sea Launch. 7th Satel Conseil Symposium.
Paris, September 6, 2000.
- Interview with Amy L. Buhrig, VP Marketing,
Sea Launch. 2nd World Summit on the Space Transportation Business.
Paris, May 11-12, 2000.
- Sea Launch Background Information. Sea Launch. March 1999.
- Launch Services Market Survey. Euroconsult. Paris, August 1998.
- Sea Launch User’s Guide (Revision A). Boeing Commercial Space Co. Seattle, July 1998.
- Engines of Zenit Launch Vehicle. PO YuzhMash. Dnepropetrovsk, 1997.
- The Zenit Space Rocket Complex. Sea Launch. 1997.
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