Marine finish

Another rocket launch from a platform near the equator was unsuccessful

The Ukrainian-Russian launch vehicle Zenit-3SL, which launched on Wednesday night from the sea launch site in the equatorial zone of Sea Launch, in the first second after liftoff, as experts say, “went off” and then fell into Pacific Ocean. None of the specialists were injured - before the launch, the crew leaves the Odyssey launch platform and moves to the ship several kilometers from the launch site.

Video footage of the launch initially suggested bad consequences for the launch platform. In the first seconds, the rocket did not go up, but fell into the launch hole under the launch pad. Several tons of fuel, namely kerosene and liquid oxygen, were supposed to explode under the platform. However, there was no fire, the site was not damaged by the rocket explosion, the platform remained buoyant, and the launch complex could be quickly restored. This was confirmed by the crew of the helicopter that flew around the platform after the launch.

Created that same night to investigate the causes of the emergency launch, the commission landed from a helicopter on the site, after which it analyzed telemetric data from the rocket’s flight. Russian engine specialists from the Energomash Design Bureau were involved in the work. The Ukrainian Yuzhnoye Design Bureau has also created its own commission. According to preliminary data, the accident was in no way connected with the Russian upper stage, manufactured at the Energia rocket and space corporation; it should have turned on only in the tenth minute of the flight.

Created at the state-owned Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnepropetrovsk, the three-stage liquid-propellant rocket was supposed to launch into orbit the multifunctional telecommunications satellite NSS-8, manufactured by Boeing for the Dutch company SES New Skies. This spacecraft, designed for government and commercial communications, television broadcasting and Internet access, was supposed to operate in orbit for 15 years. The scale of lost profits is large - the company provides services to consumers in 79 countries. The unlaunched satellite was supposed to become the sixth in the space constellation of this company.

The Sea Launch company is the only one in the world that launches from a floating platform. Due to the location of the launch point near the equator (here is the least gravity of the Earth), the launch vehicle can launch vehicles of greater mass into orbit than from ground-based airfields outside the equatorial zone. In 2006 alone, it successfully carried out five space launches. And since its creation in 1995, there have been 23 Zenit launches under the Sea Launch program. The first emergency launch occurred in March 2000 due to a failure in the control system of the ground-based automated pre-launch preparation system. Another emergency situation occurred in June 2004 - the Zenit upper stage was unable to launch the satellite into the intended orbit. The founders of Sea Launch are Boeing, RSC Energia, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash Production Association, as well as the British-Norwegian Kvaerner Maritimeas. The Russian Transport Engineering Design Bureau took part in the production of the launch platform. The Sea Launch Corporation, whose headquarters is located in the USA, will soon talk about the program of further launches. Although representatives of Roscosmos are already expressing confidence that the program will be continued.

Nikolay POROSKOV