. 24/7 Space News .
Russian And Indonesia To Ink Air Launch Deal

illustration only
by Staff Writers
Moscow, Russia (RIA) Mar 01, 2006
The Russian and Indonesian presidents are expected to sign an agreement this summer on implementing a $122 million aerospace project, a Russian space official said Tuesday. Talks on the Ruslan (An-124-100) aircraft's take off from the Indonesian island of Biak have been ongoing since 2003.

Anatoly Karpov, president of the Air Launch corporation said: "An intergovernmental agreement on the Air Launch project to launch light carrier rockets from the hatch of the Ruslan heavy transit aircraft during a flight over equatorial territories is planned to be signed in June-July 2006 at the presidents' meeting."

"We have looked round the island's aerodrome and studied Indonesia's industrial capacity for the production of fuel components for the carrier rocket: hydrogen and liquid oxygen," Karpov said.

The governor of Biak allowed Russia to buy 2.7 hectares of land on the island for the construction of the necessary infrastructure.

The official said that the agreement would guarantee the protection of the Russian technology.

The Air Launch project is more efficient and cheaper than launches from the earth. A carrier rocket fired from the Ruslan at the altitude of 10 kilometers (about 6,2 miles) will make it possible to put a larger payload into orbit.

According to experts, launching the Polyot carrier rocket from the Ruslan will cost an estimated $23 million, or 50% less than launching the traditional Soyuz-2 from the earth.

Four Ruslan aircraft are intended to be involved in the project.

"If the launch of the carrier rocket appears impossible, liquid oxygen will be drained from its tanks immediately, which will only enrich the atmosphere, and approximately 25 metric tons of kerosene will be pumped into the plane's tanks," Robert Ivanov, deputy president of the corporation, said.

Source: RIA Novosti

Related Links
-



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Arianespace Resets Launch For March 9
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Feb 28, 2006
Arianespace said Tuesday it has reset the date for its next Ariane 5 rocket liftoff for March 9, with a launch window extending only about one hour, from 7:06 p.m. to 8:13 p.m., local time. A scheduled launch on Feb. 24 had been postponed because Eutelsat had requested a complete verification of the telemetry signal system.







  • NASA Awards Contract to Enterprise Advisory Services
  • NASA Awards Sciences and Exploration Data Analysis Contract
  • Shuttle's New External Fuel Tank Headed to Cape
  • Unreal Estate: The Men who Sold the Moon

  • Mars Rovers Robotics Planetary Exploration Atacama Xenobiology
  • Mars Rover Update: Preparing For Another Winter
  • Ausonia Mensa Remnant Massif By Mars Express
  • Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter On Course For March Arrival

  • Arianespace Confirms WildBlue-1 For GEO Launch
  • Russian And Indonesia To Ink Air Launch Deal
  • Arianespace Resets Launch For March 9
  • Ariane 5 Heavy Launch Of Spainish Military Satellite Delayed Again

  • Boeing To Process Radar Data From Endeavour
  • Envisat Marks Fours Year In ESA Mission To Planet Earth
  • NASA Awards Ocean Color Research Support Services Contract
  • Europe To Replace CryoSat

  • New Horizons Update: 'Boulder' and 'Baltimore'
  • New Horizons Set For A Comfortable Cruise Out To Jupiter And Pluto Transfer
  • Questioning Pluto
  • New Outer Planet Is Larger Than Pluto

  • Pulsar Causes Mysterious Collision With Stellar Winds
  • Milky Way And Andromeda Galaxy Share Common History
  • VLT Captures Supernova In Messier 100
  • Space Telescope Gets Swift Fix On Galaxy Blowing Up

  • Quantum Technique Can Foil Hackers
  • Noah's Ark On The Moon
  • X PRIZE Foundation And The $2M Lunar Lander Challenge
  • Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Passes Preliminary Design Review

  • Solid Progress Continues With GPS Modernization Effort
  • Orbit International: Mobile Key Panel Receivers
  • Trimble Offers New Modular GPS Solutions For Construction Industry Applications
  • Tetra Tech Wins Federal Aviation Administration Satellite Navigation Assistance Contract

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement