WASHINGTON – It's a scene right out of a James Bond movie: A rocket blazes into orbit from a launch pad perched atop a renovated oil rig in a deserted corner of the Pacific Ocean.
But instead of a death laser aimed at Washington, the rockets departing from Sea Launch's platform at the equator carry far more commercial payloads: Direct TV, radio, and cellular telephone satellites.
At least that was the plan.
Sea Launch's third mission met an agonizing end in March when a Ukrainian- and Russian-made Zenit 3SL rocket failed to reach orbit and crashed into the ocean about 2,700 miles away from the launch platform.
An internal investigation blamed a software error that failed to close a valve before liftoff.
The chastened company got its space legs back last month, when it successfully sent the Thuraya-1 communications satellite into orbit on Oct. 21. At 11,260 pounds, company representatives say it was the heaviest payload ever to be sent successfully into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
At a Washington Space Business Roundtable on Monday, Sea Launch executives stressed that they feel confident the company can continue to deliver successful launches.
"Obviously, I have complete confidence in our operation," Sea Launch president Will Trafton said. "Look, our business is based on confidence, and primarily our customer confidence. If that confidence is not there, then we're out of business."
"I like where we are right now and think we're here for the long haul," Trafton said.
Customers don't seem to be particularly worried.
Trafton said Sea Launch, which launches from the equator because it reduces fuel cost and increases accuracy, is planning on four missions in 2001; and plans to increase that to seven a year by 2003. He said 14 launches are already sold for the future, and that the company can launch eight times per year.
The company is trying to position itself as the first choice for heavy commercial launches. Trafton said it hopes to increase its payload capacity to upwards of 13,200 pounds by 2002.
But it's facing stiff competition from companies like International Launch Services, an American-Russian joint venture that has successfully completed 12 missions this year, including one last month that carried a U.S. government communications satellite aloft.
Arianespace, a French firm, has completed nine missions this year and is scheduled to launch an Ariane 5 rocket on Tuesday.
Sea Launch was founded in 1995. Its investors include Boeing, which owns 40 percent of the operation; RSC-Energia of Moscow, which owns 25 percent; Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner Group of Oslo, which owns 20 percent; and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of the Ukraine, which owns 15 percent.
According to Sea Launch's statistics, the renovated oil platform is self-propelled, 436 feet long by 220 feet wide, and it can accommodate 68 people.
Nicholas Morehead contributed to this report.
