The state-run Pivdenny Machine Building Plant (Pivdenmash, Dnipropetrovsk) will resume the delivery of Zenit rockets in June for the next launch in the Land Launch program from Baikonur space center, following the upgrades carried out after the investigation into the cause of February's failed launch attempt of the Intelsat-27.
The public relations department of the Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenne
Design Bureau told this to Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the head
of a commission investigating the causes of the failed launch of the
Zenit-3SL rocket, Chief Designer and CEO of the Pivdenne Design Bureau,
Oleksandr Dehtiariov, and CEO of Pivdenmash Viktor Schehol said.
“As of today, two Zenit carrier rockets have been upgraded and tested again at Pivdenmash,” the report reads.
According to it, all the flaws in the design of the onboard power supply unit, which caused the accident, have been eliminated.
According to Pivdenne Design Bureau, the two Zenit rockets, which are
being prepared for delivery to Baikonur in June, are to be launched in
the third and fourth quarter of this year under the Land Launch program.
As reported, a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket carrying the Intelsat 27
satellite malfunctioned during launch on February 1, 2013, crashing into
the ocean just 2.5 kilometers away from its launch platform in the
Pacific.
The Sea Launch consortium published an official report of the Failure
Review Oversight Board (FROB) on the investigation into the cause of
the failed launch attempt.
According to the report, the FROB concluded that the failure was
isolated to the Zenit 3SL 1st stage hydraulic power supply unit, with no
other contributing factors identified.
The Zenit 3SL launcher was designed by Ukrainian Pivdenne Design
Bureau (Dnipropetrovsk) and it is based on the Zenit 3 launcher. The
Russian Energia Corporation is the maker of the DM-SL upper stage. The
1st stage uses RD-171 engine made by Russia’s Energomash.
The Sea Launch international consortium was established in 1995. Upon
reorganization in 2010, Energia Overseas Limited (EOL), a lower tier
subsidiary of Energia Corporation, acquired 95 percent of the stock, U.S.
Boeing acquired 3 percent and Norwegian Aker Solutions acquired 2 percent.
Commercial launches of modernized Zenit rockets with up to 4.5- tonne
satellites have been performed from Baikonur for economic reasons since
2008. Satellites bigger than 4.5 tonnes are launched from the sea-based
platform.
Sea Launch has made 35 Zenit-3SL launches from the mobile platform in
the Pacific. One of them was partially successful and two missions
failed.
Ukraine’s Pivdenne Design Bureau and Pivdenmash Production
Association are the developer and manufacturer of Zenit-3SL carrier
rockets. They are key partners of the international consortium in Sea
Launch and Land Launch programs.
