[Satellite TODAY Insider 09-27-11] Sea Launch has successfully orbited its first satellite since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2010, the company announced 24. Sea Launch’s Zenit-3SL rocket lofted Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird 7 satellite into orbit from the ocean-based Odyssey Launch Platform in the international waters of the Pacific Ocean.

   Sea Launch President Kjell Karlsen said the Zenit 3-SL rocket performed flawlessly as separation of the Atlantic Bird 7 satellite from the upper stage rocket was confirmed more than an hour after the 1:18 p.m. PDT liftoff. Sea Launch’s ground stations acquired signals from the spacecraft shortly after. “This was a fantastic mission for us. Sea Launch is back,” Karlsen said during a live webcast of the launch.

   The Astrium-built Atlantic Bird 7 will replace Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird 4A satellite located at the 7 degrees West orbital slot. Atlantic Bird 7 aims to deliver additional capacity for further expansion of services, using up to 50 Ku-band transponders to connect to two beams covering the Middle East, North Africa and North-West Africa with digital broadcasting services. The operator said it would redeploy Atlantic Bird 4A from 7 degrees East to 13 degrees East, where it will revert to its original name of Hot Bird 10.

   “Today’s launch also represents a new step forward in Eutelsat’s significant in-orbit expansion program. Our W3C satellite is scheduled for launch next month, with five further satellites to follow into space by early 2014 that will collectively increase our resources by 20 percent,” Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen said in a statement following the launch.

   Sea Launch, formed in 1995 with Boeing as a 40 percent owner among partners RSC-Energia, Kvaerner and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash, experienced financial hardhips that forced the company to file for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in June 2009.

In October 2010, the company emerged as Sea Launch AG with a new majority owner, Russia’s Energia Overseas, which invested more than $100 million and moved its headquarters from Long Beach, Calif., to Bern, Switzerland. Sea Launch, however, did retain its operations at its California facility, which is now managed by the U.S. subsidiary Energia Logistics.

   Sea Launch’s next mission will be to send Intelsat’s IS-18 spacecraft into orbit from the Zenit Launch Complex located within the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.