Russian-Ukrainian rocket launches Arab telecoms satellite from Pacific platform
Posted on: Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 06:00 CDT
Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS
Kiev, 10 June: A Ukrainian-Russian Zenit-3SL rocket carrying an Arab communications satellite, Thuraya 2, was successfully launched at 1756 hours Moscow time [1356 gmt] today from the Odyssey marine platform in the Pacific Ocean. An ITAR-TASS correspondent was informed of this by the Pivdenne state design office named after Yanhel [TASS uses the Russian version of this name - "the Yuzhnoye state design office named after Yangel".
The satellite, weighing 5.117 t, is to be placed in a transitional orbit, leading to a geostationary orbit. The satellite will fire its own engines to reach a geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of 35,786 km, with coordinates of 44 degrees east and an orbital inclination of 6.3 degrees.
Thuraya 2 has been launched by the US concern Boeing Satellite Systems. After Thuraya 1, it is the second in a series of geostationary satellites for Boeing GEM (geo-mobile) mobile communications. Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company of the UAE used the services of Sea Launch in October 2000 to launch its first satellite, Thuraya 1.
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