Mon, Jan 14, 2008
Liftoff Scheduled Early Tuesday Morning
Representatives with Sea Launch tell ANN its team has arrived at
its launch site on the Equator and initiated a new 72-hour
countdown, in preparation for the launch of the Thuraya-3 mobile
communications satellite on Tuesday, January 15. Liftoff is planned
at the opening of a 44-minute window, at 0349 Pacific Standard Time
(1149 GMT).
As ANN reported, a November
launch attempt was scrubbed due to unusually strong currents. The
Sea Launch Commander and the Odyssey Launch Platform have returned
to the launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude for launch
operations. A day before liftoff, the launch team will erect the
Zenit-3SL rocket on the launch pad and perform final tests on the
launch system and the spacecraft before beginning the terminal
countdown.
During final preparations for liftoff, the platform will be
evacuated, with all personnel safely positioned on the ship, four
miles from the platform. At launch, the rocket will lift the 5,173
kg (11,381 lb) spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its
way to a final orbital location of 98.5 degrees East Longitude.
Boeing designed and built the GEO-Mobile (GEM) spacecraft in El
Segundo, CA, for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company,
based in the United Arab Emirates. Boeing also built, and Sea
Launch successfully deployed, Thuraya-1 (October 20, 2000) and
Thuraya-2 (June 10, 2003). The satellites are designed to provide a
range of mobile voice and data services over large geographic
regions.
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