Liftoff Scheduled Early Tuesday Morning

Representatives with Sea Launch tell ANN its team has arrived at its launch site on the Equator and initiated a new 72-hour countdown, in preparation for the launch of the Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite on Tuesday, January 15. Liftoff is planned at the opening of a 44-minute window, at 0349 Pacific Standard Time (1149 GMT).

As ANN reported, a November launch attempt was scrubbed due to unusually strong currents. The Sea Launch Commander and the Odyssey Launch Platform have returned to the launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude for launch operations. A day before liftoff, the launch team will erect the Zenit-3SL rocket on the launch pad and perform final tests on the launch system and the spacecraft before beginning the terminal countdown.

During final preparations for liftoff, the platform will be evacuated, with all personnel safely positioned on the ship, four miles from the platform. At launch, the rocket will lift the 5,173 kg (11,381 lb) spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital location of 98.5 degrees East Longitude.

Boeing designed and built the GEO-Mobile (GEM) spacecraft in El Segundo, CA, for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company, based in the United Arab Emirates. Boeing also built, and Sea Launch successfully deployed, Thuraya-1 (October 20, 2000) and Thuraya-2 (June 10, 2003). The satellites are designed to provide a range of mobile voice and data services over large geographic regions.

FMI: www.boeing.com/nosearch/sealaunch, www.sealaunch.com