[Satellite TODAY 02-15-13] International Launch Services (ILS) is looking to bounce back quickly after the problems of launching the Yamal-402 satellite late last year for Russian satellite operator, Gazprom Space Systems. It issued additional details related to the launch of the Yamal-402 satellite, Feb. 14. It initially announced a launch anomaly on Dec. 8 last year. Certainly, the events surrounding the launch are an early test for Phil Slack who was appointed President of ILS in November last year, succeeding Frank McKenna.

 

    The members of the ILS Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) agreed with the findings of the Russian investigation that the most probable cause of the Yamal 402 Proton launch anomaly was due to a combination of adverse conditions which affected the operation of the Breeze M main engine during the startup of the third burn. ILS added that the combination of adverse conditions were predominantly thermal in nature and affected the conditions at the oxidizer inlet line to the Breeze M main engine prior to the third burn ignition and resulted in a large volume of oxidizer gas (rather than liquid oxidizer) at the engine inlet, exceeding the Breeze M main engine specifications.

 

    The Yamal-402 satellite was eventually able to be placed into orbit at the 55 degrees East orbital location. The satellite, which has 46 Ku-band transponders, was built by Thales Alenia Space. Due to issues with the launch, the company embarked on a recovery operation. Some of the satellite’s own fuel reserves had to be used to take the satellite to the correct orbital slot.

 

    The good news for ILS is that the recovery from this looks to have been swift, and it will launch again less than four months after the Yamal-402 launch. It has announced that the Satmex 8 satellite has been slated for a March 27 launch date from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Satmex 8 is a Ku and C-band satellite for Mexican satellite operator, Satmex. The Satmex 8 launch, previously planned for late December, was postponed due to this anomaly. As part of the return to flight process, Satmex participated in the ILS FROB review which recently concluded.

 

    It has been a difficult few months for the launch services industry with ILS having issues this launch, and Sea Launch failing to launch the Intelsat-27 satellite at the start of this year. Both companies will be looking to bounce back quickly, but these issues are creating a degree of uncertainty in the market. Richard Roithner, Director, Satcom, Euroconsult says, “For the commercial satellite launch service market as a whole the recent launch failure (Sea Launch) adds to the uncertainty in the market with issues at ILS and its Proton rocket, and a very limited number of launch options for satellite operators. 2013 will certainly be a key year for the launch market with the entry of SpaceX for GEO orbit, but the industry remains fragile and incidents such as the recent Sea Launch failure are certainly not helping the industry to overcome its issues.” Chris Baugh, CEO, NSR comments, “Overall, in the launch services market and following concerns on Proton’s reliability, it should support Arianespace’s marketing approach focused on reliability. It should also give a window of opportunity to challengers such as SpaceX, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry and Alcantara Cyclone Space. If the Russian quality crisis is not rapidly addressed in an effective and reassuring way, it should drive launch costs up as the supply is limited.”

 

    Jacob Gullish, Director of Futron’s Space and Telecoms Division, says confident will need need to be rebuilt in the Russian launch manufacturing market, “The underlying issue, however, is the consistent problems with multiple Russian-made launch vehicles which are used by many launch services companies globally. This (Sea Launch) is the ninth incident in a string of failures since December 2010," he says. "Clearly, this is some underlying structural issues that need to be addressed before confidence can be restored to the Russian launch manufacturing market.”