CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An Atlas 3B rocket on Friday lifted a new satellite into Earth orbit that is to provide direct broadcast and other communications services to the planet's Asia Pacific region.
With the successful launch of AsiaSat 4, Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Ltd., has added a fourth spacecraft to the firm's constellation, which is capable of reaching more than two-thirds of Earth's population.
"We're very proud, very excited to be here," said Sabrina Cubbon, marketing manager for AsiaSat. "AsiaSat 4 will be the largest and the most powerful member of our fleet."
The satellite delivery mission represented a $240 million expense, Cubbon said. She would not break down the costs for launch, the satellite or for the insurance.
AsiaSat was formed in 1988 as Asia's first privately owned, regional satellite operator. Major shareholders include the China International Trust and Investment Corporation and Luxembourg-based SES GLOBAL.
The company launched its first satellite in 1990 on China's Long March rocket. A second satellite was orbited in 1995, also by a Long March, and AsiaSat's third spacecraft flew in 1999 atop a Russian Proton rocket.
Built by Boeing Satellite Systems, AsiaSat 4 is designed to provide a standard suite of commercial communications services, including direct broadcast and broadband multimedia content, from its perch above the equator is to be 122 degrees east longitude.The satellite originally was intended to fly in early 2002, but Boeing delayed delivery of the model 601-HP spacecraft for several months to ensure it would properly work.
Up and away
AsiaSat 4 took its ride into space on a Lockheed Martin Atlas 3B rocket, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:47 p.m. EDT (0047 GMT Friday).
Technical problems related to the rocket's guidance system and the computer system that controls the final countdown delayed the launch, as well as the need to load new a flight profile into the rocket's computer because of updated information about the winds aloft.
A launch attempt on Thursday was delayed by low, thick clouds drifting over pad 36B, and then scrubbed when upper level winds appeared to dramatically shift and there wasn't enough time to wait for new wind balloon data with which to update the rocket's computer.
Under a mostly clear sky, ignition of the first stage cast a brilliant orange glow over Florida's Space Coast as the 176-foot (53.6-meter) launcher rose into the night and soon disappeared from view.
Mission commentators reported all phases of the flight worked as planned and AsiaSat 4 separated from the Centaur upper stage as expected some 31 minutes after liftoff.
Only the third flight of this type of vehicle, the troublefree blast off extended a 10-year-long string of successful Atlas launches to 64 in a row.
"We have a great Atlas team, not only here at the Cape, but with guys who work all over the country that have made possible the incredible record that Atlas has," said Adrian Laffitte, director of Atlas launch operations for Lockheed Martin.
Considered a stepping stone between the proven Atlas 2 family of rockets and the new Atlas 5 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, the Atlas 3 used Friday featured Russian-designed main engines, a stretched first stage and an upgraded single-engine Centaur upper stage.
"It's an incredible testimony to Adrian and his team that they are able to operate so seamlessly across vehicles," said Mark Albrecht, president of International Launch Services, the firm responsible for marketing the Atlas and Proton rockets.
Brighter future
During a pre-launch news briefing, Albrecht expressed some amount of optimism the pace of commercial launch activity would pick up in the coming years.
"It's been flat," Albrecht said. "But I think there's some evidence that there is some life kicking into the market."
One of the launch industry's "leading economic indicators" is the number of satellite manufacturing contracts signed, as it takes about two years for a satellite to be built and made ready for launch.
So Albrecht looked down the table to Dave Ryan, president of Boeing Satellite Systems, who reported that his company has definitely seen a reduction in the total number of satellites ordered worldwide during the past couple of years.
Ryan said only three new satellites were out for bid last year, of which Boeing won one. In better times the market saw some 20 to 30 satellites ordered in a year, while the estimate for this year is 12 to 15.
"We don't anticipate the market getting much above that 15 to 20 over the next couple of years. And then in 2006 and 2007 our forecast right now for that is back up to the 20-plus satellites that will be up for bid per year," Ryan said.
Albrecht said that long before then ILS would be marketing only the Atlas 5 family of boosters, allowing the Atlas 3s and Atlas 2s to fade away into the history books as the inventory was flown off.
"I guess we'll probably be flying all three for another three or four years," Albrecht said. "By this time next year we'll be pretty much moving exclusively with Atlas 5."
The next Atlas launch is targeted for May 12 when an Atlas 5 is to carry into orbit Hellas Sat, Greece's first satellite and a spacecraft that many local workers already have affectionately nicknamed "my big fat Greek satellite," after the popular movie.
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