You're reading: Sea Launch preparing to launch Zenit-3SL rocket in August

The Sea Launch international consortium is preparing to launch a Zenit-3SL rocket with the U.S. Intelsat 21 satellite in mid-August 2012.

From its ocean-based launch site located directly on the equator, the Zenit-3SL launch vehicle will lift the Intelsat 21 spacecraft, weighing 5,984 kilograms, into an optimized geosynchronous transfer orbit on its way to its final geostationary orbit at 302° East longitude, according to the Web site of the consortium.

Intelsat 21 will replace the IS-9 satellite. It will maintain and enhance the leading video neighborhood in Latin America, as well as offer mobility services. The Intelsat 21 satellite is based on the Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. (BSSI) 702MP mid-level power platform and is designed to provide 15 or more years of satellite service.

This will be the second launch by the Sea Launch consortium this year, and third since its reorganization in 2010-2011.

The Sea Launch Consortium was established in 1995 to launch Zenit-3SL rockets. After the Consortium’s reorganization in 2010, 95% of its stock was granted to Energia Overseas Ltd, a subsidiary of Russia’s Energia Corporation, 3% to a subsidiary of the U.S. Boeing Corporation and 2% to the Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Solutions.

As of now, the consortium has launched 32 Zenit-3SL rockets from the mobile platform in the Pacific Ocean. One of them was partially successful and two were abortive.

Ukraine’s Pivdenne state design bureau and Pivdenmash production association, both based in Dnipropetrovsk, are the developer and manufacturer of Zenit-3SL carrier rockets. They are key partners of the international consortium.