Russia planning six commercial space launches this year
Russia has six commercial launches of foreign spacecraft planned for 2004, the Aerospace Agency has told ITAR-TASS. Five will employ Proton heavy booster rockets, with the sixth using a Rokot light booster converted from a military missile.According to the source, who did not specify the number of spacecraft to be placed in orbit, "the Proton launches will be from Baykonur and the Rokot launch from Plesetsk".
International Launch Services [ILS], a Russian-US joint venture in which the Khrunichev company has a stake, now has over the half the world market for space services, the source pointed out. At the Khrunichev press office they said that ILS promotes the Proton worldwide and last year concluded seven contracts for 2004-06. That is more than the number of contracts won by all the other [such] companies worldwide put together.
One of the reasons for the success of Russia's space business is a launch price 25-30 per cent cheaper than that of US and French competitors. For example, the price to launch Israel's Amos-2 satellite in late December was 40m dollars, while the use of an American Atlas booster would have cost at least 60m dollars.
Protons have carried out 31 successful space launches since 1996, the Aerospace Agency said. The first Proton lift-off of 2004 is scheduled for mid-March, when an American W3A telecoms satellite will be placed in orbit to serve Europe and Africa. This satellite has a projected service life in orbit of 12 years.
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