The Moscow-based Kosmotras space company is set to finalize negotiations with four Western clients to launch a cluster of small satellites on a Dnepr booster rocket.
The launch would take place at the end of August from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Kosmotras was founded in 1997 with the goal of converting retired R 36-M ballistic missiles into the Dnepr space booster. The R 36-M is known to the West by its NATO classification -- the SS 18, or "Satan."
The R 36-M was the largest Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It was developed by the Yuzhnoe design bureau in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Kosmotras is made up of the Russian and Ukrainian organizations previously involved in its development.
In its first space launch on April 21, 1999, the Dnepr successfully delivered the British test satellite UoSAT 12 into orbit.
Although Kosmotras representatives would not name the owners of the payloads in the upcoming launch, sources in Moscow said that an Italian satellite would be among the spacecraft carried on the second Dnepr launch.
Artur Usenkov, Kosmotras chairman of the board of directors, said the company is only days from closing the deal for the August launch.
"We did not fill the payload to the full capacity, however, everything is on track for the launch in August," Usenkov said. Dnepr is capable of launching 3.8 tons (3,861 kilograms) of cargo into a 124-mile (200-kilometer) circular orbit with a 50-degree inclination toward the equator.
Vladislav Solovei, head of marketing at Kosmotras, said that less than 880 pounds (400 kilograms) are still available for the payload in this launch. Solovei would not disclose how much revenue the upcoming contract would bring the company. However, he said that a 2.2-pound (1-kilogram) payload launched by Dnepr would cost a client around $10,000.
Future launches
Following the August launch, Kosmotras will launch another booster which would head south after launch from Baikonur. This trajectory would allow the Dnepr to deliver satellites into so-called sun-synchronous orbit, which are very popular for Earth-watching satellites.
Sun-synchronous orbits allow satellites to orbit Earth under constant daylight and cover the entire surface of the planet from pole to pole in 24-hours.
The Dnepr southern launches would mean that rocket's first stage of the booster would fall in Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic. Kosmotras is currently negotiating an agreement with Turkmenistan's government to rent an impact area on its territory.
The newly independent republic has already had an area dedicated for this purpose, which was used previously to discard the first stage of the Zenit booster delivering the satellites into polar orbits. Unlike Zenit, Dnepr uses toxic propellants in all three of its stages.
During launches in southern direction, Dnepr's second stage would fall into the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.
The first launch of the Dnepr booster into sun-synchronous orbit is expected in December 2000 or the beginning of 2001, Kosmotras representatives told SPACE.com.
The Dnepr 1 configuration, planned to be used in both upcoming launches, will be equipped with an upper stage featuring an exotic propulsion system. Unlike most upper stages placed behind the payload, the Dnepr 1 propulsion unit "pulls" the payload container in flight. The design is a legacy of Cold War technology that allows the delivery of the multiple warheads to the individual targets.
In 2002, Kosmotras expects to introduce the Dnepr M version of the launch vehicle with a traditional upper stage.
For Dnepr launches, Kosmotras uses a single silo facility for the R 36-M ICBM in Area 109 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. However, at least two more launch complexes in Baikonur could be available for the booster after modifications. Dozens of old R 36-M-type ICBMs were retired from the Soviet strategic missile fleet.
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