[Satellite TODAY 03-19-13] Satellite services provider Echostar has contracted Sea Launch to orbit a satellite on a Zenit-3SL vehicle from its Pacific Ocean-based Odyssey platform in 2015. 

   In a joint statement issued March 18, the companies said Sea Launch’s Zenit-3SL was “ideally suited for launching heavyweight-class spacecraft, with multiple restart capability and heavy-lift performance.”

   EchoStar Satellite Services President Anders Johnson added that the preliminary agreement with Sea Launch would give the operator flexibility to accommodate its launch requirements as it expands its North American fleet. “We have been pleased with Sea Launch’s performance on past missions and look forward to continued success,” Johnson said in the release.

   The Zenit-3SL integrated launch vehicle is a liquid-propellant rocket consisting of three stages and a payload unit. The Echostar deal is significant for Sea Launch, as it represents its first since early February, when a Zenit rocket it used to carry the Intelsat-27 telecommunications satellite crashed after lift-off. A Russian government investigation blamed the incident on Ukrainian-made components and insisted no defects were found in its equipment.