Proton launches have recommenced from Baikonur. A Proton-K launched a the first two Yamal-100 craft on the night of September 5/6, following the reported payments last week of back rent on the cosmodrome by Russia, amounting to $270,000 including compensation for the failure of a Proton rocket in July.

The two Yamal satellites were produced by Energia for the Russian industrial giant Gazprom.

Meanwhile, the committee for telecommunications and mass media of the Russian government is negotiating with Energia to buy a version of the Yamal satellite for the Moscow government-owned TV-Centre channel. The management of the corporation has presented its production to Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow, for consideration. According to Energia experts, Yamal can cover all the territory of the Russian Federation. The 1.3-tonnes Yamal-100 is equipped with 10 transponders. It costs approximately US$60 million and is claimed to be of the same technical standard as the Most-1 satellite controversially purchased by Media Most last year. The 2-tonnes Yamal-200 costs about US$100 million and can be equipped with more than 50 transponders.

Meanwhile, Arianespace successfully launched a satellite for Korea Telecom (Flight 120, Koreasat 3, from Lockheed Martin) during the night of Sept 4/5, representing the 46th successful launch in a row for the Ariane 4 launch vehicle.