Approximately a year after becoming an independent company, International Launch Services Inc. (ILS) was in the midst of a record year in 2007 before a September Proton failure halted the company’s momentum.
The interruption was only temporary, as the Russian government returned the Proton to service Oct. 26 with the launch of three Glonass satellites, and ILS is slated to perform its next mission in November.
While operations were halted briefly, ILS remains on pace for a record year, says ILS President Frank McKenna. Through August, the launch provider had inked 11 different contracts with a total value of more than $1 billion. “The last time we had more than $1 billion in orders for a year was in 2000, and we had three products — Atlas 3, Atlas 5 and Proton — serving much larger markets,” he says.
McKenna, who served as ILS’ vice president and deputy for two years before being named president, spoke with Via Satellite Editor Jason Bates in August prior to the Proton failure and later commented on the Proton’s return to service.
Via Satellite: How did the Proton failure affect your business as well as the heavy-lift launch market?
McKenna: The failure was a significant disappointment and a reminder of how important a focus on performance really is. Now that Proton successfully returned to flight with a Russian federal Glonass mission, we are working with our customers to re-establish the commercial manifest for the rest of 2007 and early 2008 as well as coordinate with the scheduled Russian federal missions.
Via Satellite: What message does Proton’s quick return to service send to the industry?
McKenna: The message is that Proton is one of the most reliable vehicles in the industry. The Proton system is robust and will serve the industry's needs well into the future. Regarding the investigation, it's important to point out that the Russian State Commission was able to examine recovered hardware, not just telemetry from the mission. This was the major factor in enabling them to make a straight-forward determination of the cause of the failure and the necessary corrective actions. We started briefing insurers and customers, and they understand and have been satisfied with the findings. [The] successful Proton launch was further validation that the cause had been found and corrected.
Via Satellite: How has new ownership and the loss of Atlas 5 affected ILS?
McKenna: In establishing the company we focused on one product, which is the Proton M/Breeze M and set forth a strategy to become very focused on that product and the idea of performance. We reorganized to focus each of the organizations and cut back some of the staff. We are now a pretty strong, flexible and decisive organization. … I think in the larger scheme of things, this has been a great strategy change of ILS. Previously, we have had market strategies that marketed both products and was not quite as clear of focus. There was a price differential between products and mixed messages in the market about availability. I think the new strategy plays better than multiple launch system strategy.
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