[Satellite News – 1-29-08] Sea Launch has recovered from its launch failure a year ago and is planning a record-setting year that includes the inauguration of its new Land Launch service, Sea Launch President and General Manager Rob Peckham, said Jan. 24.
    Sea Launch employees were “elated” with the launch of the Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite Jan. 15, Peckham said. The company had been forced to return to land after unusually strong currents foiled an October launch attempt for the satellite.    
    The ocean conditions for the second attempt were normal. “One of the things we did on this last run was to take readings with a new oceanographic reader for currents,” Peckham told about 50 space industry executives at the Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon. “What we found was normal. It was actually not as bad as it usually is in January, so there’s no predicting it.”
    Peckham also is confident that the Russian and Ukrainian  space agency commission identified and solved the problem that led to the January 2007 failure of the Zenit-3SL vehicle. We are “extremely satisfied with the results of the interagency commission and our subsequent failure review oversight board review of those findings and corrective actions,” he said. “Our chief systems engineer is satisfied that the problem was understood, the problem was resolved and we’re ready to go. Will this happen again? I certainly hope not, but we’re much better prepared to ensure it doesn’t happen.”
    Sea Launch has nine launched planned for 2008, which include the Thuraya-3 mission. The company is planning the first launch for its new Land Launch service in March or April as well as two more missions from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The company also is fully booked for 2009 and hopes to perform 10 combined missions in 2010.
    Moving past the failure and into the future of Sea Launch and the U.S. launch industry in general, Peckham said the industry continues to evolve and grow stronger, although the three major launch providers have not completely escaped their past. 
    “Consolidation on the end-user side has been extremely positive for our industry,” he said. “It’s added a degree of legitimacy. I’m seeing prices that we [saw] at the end of the 90s, which on the one hand is a good thing. On the other hand, the end of the 90s was almost 10 years ago. Satellite mass has increased significantly over the last 10 years, inflation [has increased], so while we’re seeing price stability back to what we saw in the 90s, we still believe we have a ways to go to remain healthy and to continue to provide value.”
    Despite these problems, Peckham said the legs of the launch industry – end user, service provider, spacecraft manufacturer, launch provider and the insurance community — is as stable as he’s seen it for the past 20 years. “There’s economic stability [and] market stability from all four legs of the industry chair,” he said. “We’re seeing some growth. All four legs continue to evolve in what they offer to the world.”
    Peckham said he does not think the recent entrance of the Indian and Chinese government into the space industry is a bad thing for the U.S. competitors. “Both those systems are institutional systems,” he said. “They’re going to be in business whether there’s commercial business or not. The Chinese have a long-range plan. They want to go back into space with humans. They are launching non-ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) satellites. The Indians have a very aggressive space program that they’re committed to. The market, if we’re really in a free market, will dictate who lives and who dies. It is what it’s going to be.”