Posted on 08/14/2005 2:59:00 PM PDT by Lessismore
MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian carrier rocket Soyuz-FG, launched from the Baikonur space center on the night of August 13-14, put the U.S. Galaxy-14 satellite into orbit, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) said Sunday.
"The spacecraft separated from the Russian acceleration unit, reached its calculated orbit and was placed under the control of the U.S. customer," the spokesman said.
The Galaxy-14 telecommunications satellite will receive and transmit commercial TV signals across the U.S. territory and provide Internet-services. It will be a part of the space satellite grouping of the U.S. PanAmSat Corporation.
Orbital Science Corporation developed the Galaxy-14 spacecraft on the basis of the modern Star-2 satellite platform. The satellite weights 2,086 kilograms and will operate in the geo-stationary orbit for at least 15 years.
If I am not mistaken, we are incapable of doing this.
Actually Boeing and Lockheed make lots of rockets, which launch all of our classified birds. Its just that for commercial payloads, the Russians are a lot cheaper.
I think the Boeing Delta IV can do this -- but not as cheaply as the Russians.
Atlas or Delta or Ariane could do this, but the cost of launch rules in favor of Russian and Chinese launchers. It's just business.
Thought it was too heavy for a Delta
aint that sweet....
good grief, wth has happened to America!
I don't have the throw weight tables right at hand, but all of these launchers have a range of configurations. The core is just for starters, the second and other upper stages have a wide range of options, and the strap-ons make the series practically unlimited. The Soyuz weighed under 1 million pounds at liftoff and that is much less that the Space Shuttle. Delta may be the smallest, not small at all compared to the old Delta IRBM namesake, of them, but it makes up for that by the native efficiency of hydrogen-oxygen fuel.
What is the Russian's best capacity in terms of weight lifting on their launchers, especially as compared to the SHuttle?
Any help would be appreciated in finding a reliable source as many of my googles seem to bring up enthusiastic sites which colour their decisions by patriotism rather than cold hard engineering facts.
Thanks!
The Soyuz is the big one. About 1/7 the Space Shuttle. I don't know that NASA really needs to launch city busses, but they can. Their Shuttle follow on will be able to launch the entire manned Mars mission in one bundle if they go for the full size BDB.
Somebody could probably produce a table of launch capability versus launch vehicle if they felt like taking the time. LEO, geosynch and earth escape would be the most useful numbers. Cost of launch might be interesting, too.
Many thanks!
America is waisting too much money on the space shuttle. Conventional rockets are cheaper and safer.
Wikipedia page on Delta IV. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_IV_rocket
This indicates 6.275 kgm to geosynchronous orbit for the "heavy" version, and it doesn't appear that the the "heavy" has flown successfully yet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Space_launch_vehicles is the index page for Space Launch Vehicles.
In other words, you're mistaken.
No way, this is a tiny communications satellite by all standards. Last week we launched our iPSTAR satellite weighing 6,486 kg, happened to be on an Ariane 5. The smallest Delta IV handles 4,100 kg, the largest Delta IV Heavy handles 12,600 kg. The Atlas V series handles 5,100 to 8,900 kg with a Heavy version planned at 12,000 kg.
As another poster said, it's purely business. International Launch Services (ILS) (a Lockheed-affiliated company) markets both Atlas and the Russian Proton. Sea Launch (owned by, among others, Boeing) markets the Zenit vehicle and launches it from the middle of the Pacific. Those vehicles are cheaper per unit throw weight and have a capability that's right for most commercial spacecraft launches. But for the really big spacecraft you will need an Atlas V or Delta IV.
Very much obliged - I can see it deserves a good look! Saved for later reading. Cheers,
Androcles
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