Washington, DC March 13, 1998 – AST, the Hong Kong-based telecommunications company has selected the Proton launch vehicle to lift its replacement satellite to the Asiasat 3, SpaceCast has learned from U.S. launch industry sources.
The decision by the firm in essence redeems the rocket from the
upper stage failure last Christmas that doomed the satellite. Launch
insurance for the lost spacecraft, believed to be in the neighborhood of
$200 million, will be used to pay for the replacement that will also ride
the Proton.
The new satellite, Asiasat 3C, will also be built by Hughes,
which made Asiasat 3. The 3C will be an identical copy of the spacecraft
lost in 1997, so assembly should not take more than 15 months, space
industry sources suggested. Launch of the replacement aboard the Proton
from the same pad as Asiasat 3 will take place in the fall of 1999, AST
officials confirmed.
The action by AST serves to help Lockheed Martin and International Launch
Services Inc. to maintain an aggressive marketing campaign for the Proton,
whose failure in the Asiasat 3 in December was its only mishap in 1997.
Proton M, an improved variant, will begin flying in late 1998,
competiting against the Boeing Sea Launch Zenit 3 and French Ariane 4
series in the hotly contested international medium lift launcher market.
