# Sealaunch delayed til September



## moonman (Oct 27, 2004)

http://www.sea-launch.com/news_releases/nr_070403.html
Long Beach, Calif., April 3, 2007 - Sea Launch reports significant progress in the investigation into the cause of the unsuccessful launch on January 30 and repairs to the Odyssey Launch Platform.

The national space agencies of Russia and Ukraine formed an interagency commission in early February to investigate the cause of the incident and determine the necessary corrective actions. The commission recently concluded its investigation and issued a summary statement to Sea Launch, indicating an anomaly within the first stage engine caused early termination of thrust, resulting in the loss of the mission.

The Sea Launch Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) is meeting this week in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, with representatives of the interagency commission and Sea Launch partner companies, to evaluate the commission's findings regarding the root cause of the anomaly and recommended corrective actions. The FROB is comprised of Sea Launch technical leadership and U.S. aerospace industry experts as well as customer representatives. Upon completion of the meetings, the FROB Chairman will determine whether to close the FROB and begin implementation of the recommended corrective actions or to keep the FROB open for further investigation and evaluation.

Concurrently, the Sea Launch team has completed its damage assessment phase of the Odyssey Launch Platform, including repair and recertification requirements and scheduling of repair activities. The team is now engaged in a fully integrated recovery process to restore all damaged systems back to their original operating capability. The most significant of these efforts will be the construction and installation of a new gas deflector located beneath the launch pad, replacement of heat-affected cable and wiring, replacement of the launch support umbilical interface to the launch vehicle, and painting of the external surfaces.

The one-of-a-kind gas deflector - a 250-metric ton steel structure that directs the engine exhaust away from the platform and controls the acoustic environment - is being built in St. Petersburg, Russia, by the original subcontractor. The Design Bureau of Transport Machinery (DBTM), Sea Launch's Russian contractor for much of the launch support equipment, is managing this effort. Upon completion of the fabrication of the deflector, DBTM will ship the structure to Sea Launch Home Port for installation on the Launch Platform. Additional heavy industrial repair work and painting will be performed at a shipyard on the West Coast of North America.

Based on current progress, Sea Launch anticipates the FROB activity will be completed by June, followed by implementation of the necessary corrective actions leading to return to flight. The Launch Platform repair and recertification operations are expected to be completed in September. The Sea Launch partners - Boeing, RSC Energia, SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash and Aker ASA - remain fully committed to working together to resolve this anomaly and recover from its consequences for a Return to Flight in October.

About Sea Launch Company
Sea Launch Company, LLC, based in Long Beach, Calif., provides heavy lift launch services to commercial satellite customers. With the advantage of a launch site on the Equator, the Zenit-3SL rocket can lift a heavier spacecraft mass or provide longer life on orbit, offering best value plus schedule assurance. For additional information, please visit us at: www.sea-launch.com

###


----------



## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Sorry I found this:

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6430428.html


----------



## mtsz52784 (Jun 27, 2006)

Earl... does D* exclusively use Sealaunch and with this news, will D* have to post-pone the new satellites or can they launch from somewhere else??


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

No... DirecTV does not exclusively use SeaLaunch.

Sea Launch was only schedule to launch the 2nd SAT..
The first is a land based launch in Russia... and has not been effected by the SeaLaunch incident


----------



## simonkodousek (Feb 20, 2007)

Ugh, that's unfortunate. I hope they can get those birds up soon!


----------



## mtsz52784 (Jun 27, 2006)

Thanks for the clarification Earl.


----------



## n-spring (Mar 6, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Sea Launch was only schedule to launch the 2nd SAT..
> The first is a land based launch in Russia... and has not been effected by the SeaLaunch incident


Sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere, but when are the two satellites scheduled to be launched?


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

n-spring said:


> Sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere, but when are the two satellites scheduled to be launched?


There are no set dates.

The first is Q2/Q3 2007
The 2nd is ??? right now...because of the SEA LAUNCH... most likely not till at least Q3/Q4 if in 2007 at all.


----------



## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

Does anyone know with just one SAT up how many HD channels D* can launch?


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

BMoreRavens said:


> Does anyone know with just one SAT up how many HD channels D* can launch?


Pretty much all the ones they have announced so far.

They could do all sorts of combinations of things between the Local-HD's and the National HD's.... They won't have the capacity for the 150... but the first SAT going up, should cover everything that will be available by years end.


----------



## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Pretty much all the ones they have announced so far.
> 
> They could do all sorts of combinations of things between the Local-HD's and the National HD's.... They won't have the capacity for the 150... but the first SAT going up, should cover everything that will be available by years end.


Thanks Earl. That is what I was thinking but was not sure.


----------



## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

There are other announcements that relate to D11 and Sealaunch for this year. Two other satellites have jumped from Sealaunch to Ariannespace. I'm still trying to get confirmation of how this truly affects the launch schedule, so I can't say too much yet.

I can say that I'm fairly certain D11 is moved up by one more launch slot at least. 

And a couple sites still list D11 as launching this year, tho IIRC both are showing December now. (I'm not counting the other sites that have made no adjustment since January.)

cheers,
Tom


----------



## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

What is IIRC?


----------



## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

lwilli201 said:


> What is IIRC?


If I Recall Correctly


----------



## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

RAD said:


> If I Recall Correctly


Thanks. 

I will try to remember that. :sure:


----------



## selleos (Feb 27, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> There are other announcements that relate to D11 and Sealaunch for this year. Two other satellites have jumped from Sealaunch to Ariannespace. I'm still trying to get confirmation of how this truly affects the launch schedule, so I can't say too much yet.
> 
> I can say that I'm fairly certain D11 is moved up by one more launch slot at least.
> 
> ...


An insider source of mine at SeaLaunch has confirmed there is nothing even remotely being scheduled for at least another 6 mos. It's made his job a living hell... (i.e. surfing the net all day long, taking long lunches and basically collecting a paycheck w/o any work to do) he's not complaining but it does make going to work real old, real quick.


----------



## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

See http://www.boeing.com/special/sea-launch/news_releases/nr_070403.html

Unless DirecTV manage to find a ground-based launch slot for DirecTV11, means we won't see DirecTV11 in service until the end of the year at least and more likely early 2008. I don't know how many other sea launches there will be before DirecTV11 goes up, everyone is scrambling for ground launch slots......


----------



## leww37334 (Sep 19, 2005)

I thought Direct 10 was originally a ground launch and originally scheduled for Apr 6.

lyngsat now shows directv 11 going up before directv 10 and neither happening before June 06. It also says 11 will use a Zenit 3 which I thought was sea launched. Directv 10 appears to use a ground launched proton 3, but is not launched until July - Sept

No matter how you phrase it this is a slip from the original Apr 6 date.

http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/ka.html


----------



## moonman (Oct 27, 2004)

leww37334 said:


> I thought Direct 10 was originally a ground launch and originally scheduled for Apr 6.
> 
> lyngsat now shows directv 11 going up before directv 10 and neither happening before June 06. It also says 11 will use a Zenit 3 which I thought was sea launched. Directv 10 appears to use a ground launched proton 3, but is not launched until July - Sept
> 
> ...


-------------
Direct11 has always been listed as the earlier launch....See the KA launches
sked and/or sealaunch Lynsat page...direct10 is the Proton launch from Russia.
Direct12 is suppose to be a ground spare.
Note the dates are UTC time I.E. YR/MONTH/DAY.... so for the moment we
have launches sked. for June & July
Direct11 launch date may slip/change to another launcher due to Sealaunch
disaster
http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/ka.html
Spaceway 3 has already been moved off Sealaunch sked.


----------



## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Original launch dates are a nearly impossible thing to define. There is the hoped date at the time the satellite is contracted to be built, but that was 2-5 years before launch. When the satellite launch itself is contracted, there might be a range of date periods, but often times, an approximate slot is reserved, like first quarter of 2008, second half of 2009, etc. As the satellite nears completion and the launching agency starts to book particular dates, that might be the best first original launch date.

D10 had a March window at one point, and IIRC it was hoped for late 2006 in some of the build documents filed with the FCC. Since many of the satellite components have a long lead time, times vary greatly.

As best as I can determine, ILSLaunch has only one satellite to launch before D10. Anik F3 is looking good for its current launch date of next Monday, April 9. Then it looks like a month later D10 could have its shot, but only if Boeing is done with the construction.

ILSLaunch has a blog that has been helpful following Anik F3. http://www.ilslaunch.com/blog/ I'm hoping that they will do the same for D10, starting tuesday morning! 

As for lyngsat, somewhere they got very confused about D10 and D11, which goes up by which launcher, and when. I have about 6 bookmarked sites I follow, none of them seem to be heads above the rest for reliability. I tend to read all the posts here for news reports and take that info when I review the launch calendars. Mostly they agree, except for lyngsat on D10/D11.

Cheers,
Tom


----------

