WASHINGTON -
The scheduled Aug. 21 launch of Malaysia's MEASAT 3a telecommunications
satellite aboard a Land Launch rocket has been postponed indefinitely after the
spacecraft was damaged at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to
the satellite builder and launch services provider.
MEASAT
3a, owned by Measat Satellite Systems, suffered damage after being hit by
an overhead crane at a Baikonur processing facility, according to a statement
issued Aug. 13 by the satellite's builder, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles,
Va. The accident occurred over the weekend, Orbital said.
Engineers
from Orbital and Measat are assessing the damage, which may require that the
spacecraft be transported back to Orbital's satellite manufacturing facility
for repairs, the press release said. The damage assessment is expected to take
several weeks, after which Orbital and its customer can try to reschedule the
launch, the press release said.
"We
are working closely with our customer to do all that we can to assess the
situation and recommend a course of action that will put the mission back on
track in as little time as possible," Christopher Richmond, senior vice
president and head of Orbital Commercial Communications satellite programs,
said in a prepared statement.
Land
Launch operates from Baikonur using a close variant of the
Russian-Ukrainian Zenit 3SL rocket that Sea Launch uses to loft satellites from
a floating platform near the equator in the Pacific Ocean.
Paula Korn,
a spokeswoman for Sea Launch, which markets and handles contracting
arrangements for the Land
Launch vehicle, said the accident occurred after the satellite had been
mated with the rocket's Block DM SLB upper stage. She said an investigation of
what caused the accident is under way.
A new
launch date for MEASAT 3a will depend on how long it takes Orbital to assess
and repair the damage, Korn said. "It's definitely not going in August - I
can tell you that," she said.
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