Spaceflight Now: Breaking News

Proton rocket launches Russian Express 3A satellite
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: June 24, 2000 [Updated: 0840 GMT]

  Express-A
An artist's concept of an Express-A series satellite in space. Photo: Intersputnik
 
In an effort to enhance Russian communications services, a new satellite was successfully hauled into space today by Proton rocket.

The Express 3A spacecraft lifted off at 0028 GMT (8:28 p.m. EDT Friday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, one day later than planned due to a problem with the ground equipment used to fuel the rocket.

It was the first of three Proton flights scheduled over the next 19 days, culminating with the crucial launch of Zvezda -- the Russian-made service module for the International Space Station.

All indications showed the three-stage Proton vehicle performed successfully during the first 10 minutes of flight. The Block DM upper stage then took over, boosting Express 3A into the proper orbit over the course of 6 1/2 hours. The craft will park itself over the equator at 11 degrees West longitude in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles high.

Intersputnik will use Express 3A to replace the aging Stasionar-11 spacecraft, also known as Gorizont-26.

Express 3A follows the successful launch of Express 6A on March 12, also by a Proton, in a modernization plan by Intersputnik. The first in the Express A series -- the 1A satellite -- was lost in a Proton failure last October.

The new craft are built by Russia's Krasnoyarsk-based NPO PM, while Alcatel Space of France manufactures the communications payload. Intersputnik says these are Russia's most capable telecommunications spacecraft, each sporting 12 C-band and 5 Ku-band high-power transponders.

The Express 3A satellite will be used primarily for C-band high-speed Internet access channels to cover the Middle East and Africa from Europe and North America. Ku-band capacity on the Express-3A is planned to be used for digital TV broadcasting.

The next Proton flight is scheduled for June 30. The commercial launch of the Sirius 1 digital radio broadcasting satellite aboard an ILS Proton is slated for 2208:47 GMT (6:08:47 p.m. EDT), the opening of a 12-second window.

That will be followed by a government Proton launching the Geyser data relay satellite for the Russian military on July 7.

The rocket to launch Geyser will feature the upgraded Phase 2 second and third stage engines, which must be qualified before clearing the Zvezda-carrying Proton for flight on July 12 at 0453 GMT (12:53 a.m. EDT).

The RD-0210 engine used on both stages was modified in the wake of two failures last year, and officials are requiring the powerplant to complete a pair of successful demonstration flights before the one-of-a-kind space station module can be launched. The engines have already completed the first test successfully.

Zvezda has until July 14 to be launched or else wait until its next window of opportunity between August 8 and 16th. The windows are dictated by solar constraints on the craft.

The much-delayed Zvezda will serve as the initial living quarters for the space station's first crews and a propulsion module to keep the outpost at a safe altitude.