The Zenit-3SL rocket carrying the Intelsat-27 satellite failed approximately 40 seconds after liftoff.
Sea Launch has stated that all telemetry was lost indicating a loss of mission and that it will now establish a Failure Review Oversight Board to…
The Zenit-3SL rocket carrying the Intelsat-27 satellite failed approximately 40 seconds after liftoff.
Sea Launch has stated that all telemetry was lost indicating a loss of mission and that it will now establish a Failure Review Oversight Board to determine the root cause of the incident.
It has been claimed that following its lift off, the rocket seemed to veer in the wrong direction and subsequently breached angle limits. Once the vehicle was a safe distance form the Odyssey launch platform, its first stage engine was then intentionally switched off.
Kjell Karlsen, president of Sea Launch commented: “We are very disappointed with the outcome of the launch and offer our sincere regrets to our customer, Intelsat, and their spacecraft provider, BSSI (Boeing Satellite Systems).
“The cause of the failure is unknown, but we are evaluating it and working closely with Intelsat, BSSI, Energia Logistics Ltd. and our Zenit-3SL suppliers. We will do everything reasonably possible to recover from this unexpected and unfortunate event.”
Intelsat CEO David McGlade added: “We are clearly disappointed with the outcome of the launch. The cause of the failure is unknown, but we will work closely with our launch and manufacturing partners to determine the necessary next steps,” said.
Based on Boeing’s 702MP platform, Intelsat 27 was equipped with 20 C- and 20 Ku-band transponders as well as a hosted payload of 20 UHF transponders for the Italian government. That satellite was to operate from 304.5W, co-located with the Intelsat-805 and Galaxy-11 satellites.
SatelliteFinance understands that the satellite was insured for approximately US$406m, split between two placements, Intelsat and the Italian government. According to one source, assuming the two parties file a claim for a total loss, that amounts to about half of the estimated premium insurers would expect to earn in 2013. This in turn could lead to an upward pressure on future launch-plus-one insurance rates despite the increase in satellite insurance capacity.
The failure is hugely significant for Sea Launch given that it was the company’s only launch slated for this year. Karlsen previously told SatelliteFinance that Sea Launch planned to use this quiet period to build up its hardware supply and look for new contracts but without a prompt return to flight this will be extremely challenging.