08 June 2004 22:26
Russian company to develop and launch five communication satellites
Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, 8 June: The Reshetnev scientific and production association of applied
mechanics is implementing a contract on development and launch of five Ekspress-AM satellites. "Currently we are
developing five satellites, Ekspress-AM1, AM2, AM3, AM22 and AM11 under a contract with the Kosmicheskaya Svyaz [Space
Communications] company," Yevgeniy Korchagin, chief of the association's projects management directorate,
supervising the Ekspress-AM programme, has told Interfax-Military News Agency [AVN]. He also said that the Russian
Communications Ministry and the Federal Space Agency are also clients under the programme. "The agreement defines
specifications, terms and points where we are to take the satellites," said Korchagin.
He maintained that Russia has a total of 24 registered points in the orbit, 22 of which are occupied by satellites of
the association. According to him, the association launched the first Ekspress- AM22 satellite on 29 February last year,
while already on 6 March it began operating. "Usually it takes six to eight months for a satellite to pass tests
and start operation. In this case we managed to do it in two and a half months," said he. The second Ekspress-AM11
satellite was launched on 27 April. Currently, its acceptance tests are under way. "In the near future we are
likely to provide the customer with the report on whether the satellite's specifications meet the required
ones," said Korchagin. He added that the first satellite was made in record-short time, only 27 months after the
contract had been signed. "Our company is the only one in Russia possessing the technologies to develop spacecraft
with service lives of over 10 years. For instance, the Ekspress-AM has a service life of 12 years, " said he.
[Passage omitted]
[Interfax-AVN military news agency web site] |
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