Sea Launch Initiates Countdown For Inmarsat-4 Launch

LAUNCH PAD

File photo of a Zenit-series rocket on the Sea Launch pad.

Long Beach CA (SPX) Nov 03, 2005
The Sea Launch team has initiated a 72-hour countdown in preparation for the launch of the Inmarsat-4 (I-4) satellite on Saturday, November 5, at the opening of a 29-minute launch window, at 6:18:55 am Pacific Time (14:18:55 GMT).

With launch site operations now underway at 154 degrees West Longitude on the Equator, the Odyssey Launch Platform is ballasted to its launch depth and stationed alongside the Sea Launch Commander (Assembly and Command Ship), periodically connected by a link-bridge that enables foot traffic between the two vessels.

A Zenit-3SL rocket will be rolled out of its environmentally protected hangar and automatically erected on the launch pad at L-27 hours. The platform will be evacuated, with all personnel safely stationed on the ship, three miles uprange from the platform, for the remainder of launch operations.

On launch day, the rocket will lift the 5,958 kg (13,108 lb.) Inmarsat-4 satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), on its way to a final orbital position of 53 degrees West Longitude.

This is Sea Launch's first mission with Inmarsat and the first with EADS Astrium, which built the powerful spacecraft. Inmarsat-4 is designed to provide high-speed mobile service to people throughout the Americas during its 13-year service life.

It is one in a series of satellites designed to support the Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) for high-speed delivery of Internet and intranet content and solutions, video-on-demand, videoconferencing, fax, e-mail, phone and LAN access.

One of a family of three similar spacecraft, this Inmarsat-4 F2 satellite carries a single global beam that covers up to a third of the Earth's surface, 19 wide spot beams and 228 narrow spot beams. It has a total end-of-life power of 13kW.

Sea Launch will carry a live satellite feed and streaming video of the entire mission, beginning at 6:00 am PT (14:00 GMT). Transponder coordinates for downlink will be posted at: www.boeing.com/nosearch/sealaunch/broadcast.html.

A simultaneous webcast may be accessed at: www.sea-launch.com/current_index_webcast.html

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Kazakhstan Will Not Lower Rent For Baikonur Space Center

Astana, Kazakhstan (SPX) Nov 02, 2005
Kazakhstan does not plan to lower the rent it is charging Russia for the Baikonur space center, the head of Kazakh company Kazkosmos said Tuesday, reports RIA Novosti.

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