The next launch of a Zenith-3SL carrier rocket from the floating Sea Launch space center is planned for June 29, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Ukraine) General Director Stanislav Konyukhov told Interfax.
In connection with this he noted that the recently completed inter-state Ukrainian-Russian commission to investigate the reasons for the unsuccessful launch on March 12 have prepared a preliminary version of the reason for the accident.
According to an analysis of the reconstructed cyclogram for the pre-launch proceedings carried out by Yuzhnoye, the likely cause of the unsuccessful launch is a logical mistake in the algorithm for management of land-based automated pre-launch systems which occurred during corrections after the second launch from the floating platform.
According to Konyukhov, at the moment specialists from the space center are working to resolve the problem
The Sea Launch consortium contains Boeing (40%), Energia (25%), Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash (15%) and Norwegian Kvaerner (20%).
The first demonstration launch of a Zenith-3SL rocket with a mock satellite from the platform took place on March 27, 1999, and the second – with a DirecTV-1IR satellite – on October 19, 1999. The concern currently has 18 orders to launch satellites into space.
