Sea Launch has suspended all operations until 2015
Russian competition cools down: The mostly Russian-owned rocket company Sea Launch has suspended all operations until mid-2015.
I suspect that the Russian government, now in control of almost all Russian aerospace efforts, is not interested in building this company up as the rocket it uses is partly made in Ukraine and is a competitor to Russia’s new Angara rocket. Everything the Russian government has done for the past year has indicated a desire to shut down all cooperative efforts with other countries and focus everything towards all-Russian efforts.
Thus, Sea Launch dies.
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Russian competition cools down: The mostly Russian-owned rocket company Sea Launch has suspended all operations until mid-2015.
I suspect that the Russian government, now in control of almost all Russian aerospace efforts, is not interested in building this company up as the rocket it uses is partly made in Ukraine and is a competitor to Russia’s new Angara rocket. Everything the Russian government has done for the past year has indicated a desire to shut down all cooperative efforts with other countries and focus everything towards all-Russian efforts.
Thus, Sea Launch dies.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The single-core version of Angara is supposed to be pad-compatible with Zenit so the likely death of Sea Launch may have other determinants.
Sea Launch’s main selling point was its ability to support launches at any azimuth and, especially, to launch exactly on the equator, giving equatorial orbit missions a maximum free boost from Earth’s rotation. But Sea Launch requires two vessels with sizable crews which take days or weeks to position for each mission.
Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch system, due to enter service in 2018, will be able to offer even better trajectory optimization using a single carrier vehicle with a small crew that can position itself in a matter of hours. By flying straight East as it launches its equatorial missions, the giant Stratolaunch carrier aircraft will even be able to add its own considerable cruising speed to that of the Earth’s rotation in providing a free boost margin to its payloads.
I think the Russians are cutting what they can now while preserving the option of reactivation later, but I don’t see Sea Launch’s competitive position improving much by 2015. My guess is this is when the axe falls for good and maybe Long Beach gets two more museum ships to add to the Queen Mary, the Skorpion and the Lane Victory that already berth nearby. Add a fake Zenit – or even a real one if it can be obtained cheaply enough – and you’ve got quite a potential tourist attraction.