International Launch Services (ILS) has announced that Kirk Pysher will succeed Phil Slack as president.
International Launch Services (ILS) has announced that Kirk Pysher will succeed Phil Slack as president.
Pysher has served as ILS’s vice president of mission assurance and product development since 2013, working closely with the insurance community, and joined the company’s board last month.
Prior to joining ILS he was COO at Energia Logistics managing Sea Launch’s operations, and before that vice president and chief systems engineer of the now defunct Boeing-Sea Launch.
At ILS, Pysher has overseen quality control of Proton, the Russian rocket exclusively marketed to commercial customers by ILS and manufactured by its parent company, Khrunichev.
Traditionally a very reliable launch vehicle, Proton has suffered some failures in recent years, most recently in May. However, the rocket returned to flight on 31 August successfully placing Inmarsat’s I-5 F3 into orbit.
Slack had been president of ILS, owned by Russian rocket maker Khrunichev, since 2012. He leaves the company after 15 years of service having joined from Boeing in 2000, where he had been since 1988. Before becoming ILS’s president he was CFO for 12 years.
Slack said: “I have appreciated working with all of our customers over the years, and with Kirk for the past two, and know that ILS is in very capable hands.
“I am very grateful for the support of all of my industry colleagues and look forward to the next chapter.”
Pysher commented: “I look forward to continuing Phil’s work towards building customer trust and confidence in the dedicated and talented teams at ILS and Khrunichev as well as the Proton and Angara launch vehicles.”
ILS announces Hispasat launch contract
ILS followed up the news by making its first launch contract win announcement since Proton’s failure in May.
Spain’s Hispasat has picked the group to launch one of the first two satellites that US-based Space Systems Loral is building for it, Hispasat 1F or Amazonas 5, in the first half of 2017.
ILS is dual integrating both missions, enabling Hispasat to determine the satellite-to-launcher assignments very late based on its business and schedule needs.
The Spanish operator already distributes more than 1,250 TV and radio channels through its existing fleet, and will use the new satellites to meet growing demand for capacity, mainly for regional TV platforms and Ka band for new internet connectivity services.
Pysher said: “The partnership of Hispasat satellites launching on Proton dates back over 10 years with the successful launch of Hispasat’s first Amazonas satellite in 2004 on ILS Proton. We are proud that Hispasat continues to place its trust in us to expand business with this launch in 2017, another powerful satellite to augment their fleet. ILS and Khrunichev look forward to working with Hispasat on this important mission.”
ILS is not the only launch provider to have announced contracts during the World Satellite Business Week conference in Paris, France.
Californian launcher SpaceX said its Falcon 9 rocket has also been picked to launch a satellite for Hispasat, while its upcoming Falcon Heavy vehicle has been selected to lift the Saudi Arabian Arabsat 6A communications bird. It expects to conduct both missions between late 2017 and 2018.
France’s Arianespace told the conference that it has been contracted by Japanese satellite operator BSAT to launch its SSL-made BSAT-4a spacecraft on an Ariane 5 in late 2017.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has been cited saying it hopes to secure another contract this year for an Atlas 5 launch in 2016, as reports claim it is looking to sell its 50% share of the joint venture it uses to carry out the missions, United Launch Alliance.
