Mon, Mar 15, 2004
ILS Launches Loral-Built MBSAT Satellite
An International Launch Services
(ILS) Atlas III rocket blasted off over the weekend, successfully
orbiting the MBSAT satellite for Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). This
was the 70th consecutive successful flight of an Atlas vehicle, and
the second launch of the year conducted by ILS, a Lockheed Martin
joint venture.
Liftoff was at 12:40 a.m. EST, and the SS/L 1300 model satellite
separated from the rocket 29 minutes later. SS/L built the
satellite and contracted with ILS to deliver it in orbit for Mobile
Broadcasting Corp (MBCO) of Japan and SK Telecom of Korea. The
state-of-the-art satellite will deliver digital multimedia
information services such as CD-quality audio, MPEG-4 video and
data to mobile users throughout Japan and Korea.
"This is a landmark launch for the Atlas team," said ILS
President Mark Albrecht. "The Atlas rocket has a perfect record
over more than a decade, but we'll never get complacent. We still
take it one launch at a time, and that discipline and dedication is
what has given us the world's most reliable vehicle."
This was the fifth flight for the Atlas III vehicle, is one of
three Atlas models currently being flown. It is a transitional
vehicle between the Atlas II series that has been flying since
1991, and the powerful Atlas V, which made its debut successfully
in 2002. The Atlas II, III and V families have achieved 100 percent
success since mid-1993.
Albrecht noted that this is the 21st SS/L-built satellite
launched by ILS vehicles, which include not only the Atlas family
but also the Russian-built Proton rocket. ILS is a joint venture of
Lockheed Martin, which builds the Atlas rocket, and Khrunichev
State Research and Production Space Center, which builds the Proton
vehicles.
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