Land Launch
Land Launch is a programme which uses Zenit rockets to conduct commercial satellite launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Originally formed as a subsidiary of Sea Launch, launch operations were taken over by Russian company Space International Services following the bankruptcy of Sea Launch in 2009, with the programme still branded as Land Launch.
The first launch was conducted on 28 April 2008 at 05:00 GMT, when a Zenit-3SLB was used to place AMOS-3 (AMOS-60) into a geosynchronous orbit.
The second flight would have launched MEASAT-3A, a Malaysian communications satellite, but the spacecraft was damaged by a crane while Land Launch was preparing it for a planned 21 August 2008 launch.[1]
A second launch was completed on February 26, 2009 when Land Launch successfully launched the Telstar 11N mission.
Land Launch missions differ from Sea Launch missions in that the modernised Zenit-3SLB is used, as opposed to the Zenit-3SL, a smaller and hence lighter payload fairing is used, allowing the rockets to insert smaller payloads directly into geosynchronous orbit, rather than leaving them in transfer orbits. Launches occur from Site 45/1 at Baikonur.
A commercial version of the two-stage Zenit-2M, the Zenit-2SLB, was also offered for commercial launches when Land Launch was a subsidiary of Sea Launch, however no launches were contracted for this smaller rocket.
Launches
| Number | Date | Type | Serial-No. | Launch Site | Payload | Payload Type | Orbit | Outcome | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2008-04-28[2] | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45 | AMOS-3 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | First Land Launch flight | |
| 2 | 2009-02-26[3] | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45 | Telstar 11N | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | ||
| 3 | 2009-06-22[4] | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45 | MEASAT-3a | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | ||
| 4 | 2009-11-30[5] | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45 | Intelsat 15 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | ||
| 5 | 2011-10-05[6] | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45 | Intelsat 18 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | ||
| 6 | 2013-09-31[7] | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45 | AMOS-4 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | ||
See also
References
- ↑ Morris, Jefferson (Aug 12, 2008). "Crane Damages MEASAT 3A At Baikonur". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
- ↑ "Amos 3". NASA NSSDC.
- ↑ "Telstar 11N". NASA NSSDC.
- ↑ "MEASAT-3a satellite successfully launched" (PDF) (Press release). MEASAT. June 22, 2009.
- ↑ "Land Launch Successfully Deploys Intelsat 15 Satellite to Orbit" (Press release). Sea Launch. November 30, 2009.
- ↑ http://www.spaceflightnow.com/landlaunch/intelsat18/status.html
- ↑ "Amos 4". NASA NSSDC.