* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: AMOS-3 Satellite

Blobrana · L

Five days after the originally scheduled launch date, Israel's most advanced communications satellite has been successfully launched into space. One hour and 20 minutes after its launch from a site in Kazakhstan Monday, the Amos-3 satellite was released from the final stage of its launch cycle and entered its orbit route.
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The sophisticated AMOS-3 communications satellite was sent into orbit at 8 A.M. Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan.
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VIDEO - The Amos 3 communications satellite was launched into space successfully Monday morning from the launching site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, after a four-day delay.
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Blobrana · L

The launch of a modified Zenit carrier rocket with an Israeli communications satellite on board from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan has been postponed until Monday,

Source Novosti

Blobrana · L

The expected launching of Israel's Amos 3 communications satellite, which was slated to take place at approximately 8:00 a.m. Thursday in Kazakhstan, was called off due to technical difficulties. The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced that the launch would be put off by at least a day after a failure was detected in the satellite's launching system.
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The launch of a modified Zenit carrier rocket with an Israeli communications satellite on board from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan has been postponed for 24 hours.
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Blobrana · L

The AMOS 3 telecommunications satellite atop a Zenit 3SLB rocket is to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 05:00 GMT, 24th April, 2008.
The AMOS 3 satellite will replace the Amos-1 geostationary communications satellite launched in 1996 and scheduled to be decommissioned later this year.
The craft will be positioned at orbital Location 4 degrees West and provide service to the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

Blobrana · L

A Zenith-3SLB rocket is to launch the Israeli AMOS-3 communications satellite into orbit, from the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan in March 2008
Russia started preparations for the launch in October last year.

"For the first time, a three-stage Zenit rocket will be launched from this space centre" - Oleg Urusov, spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Centre at Baikonur.

Previous launches of the modified Zenit rocket have used the Sea Launch's floating launch platform in the Pacific Ocean.
The $170-mln satellite, manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), will join the AMOS-1 and AMOS-2 satellites at orbital location 4 degrees West, and expand coverage areas and enhance direct cross-Atlantic links that connect the Mideast to Europe and the U.S. East Coast, according to Space Communications Ltd., the operator of the AMOS satellite fleet.
Like Amos-2, Amos-3 is designed to operate in Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies, with fixed beams covering the Middle East, Europe and the eastern coast of North America.
The AMOS-3 would eventually replace the AMOS-1 when it comes to its operational end-of-life which is currently expected in 2008.
The AMOS-3 satellite will have a mission lifetime of 12 years.

Blobrana · L

Space International Services and Sea Launch Company have announced the award of a firm launch contract with Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd., utilising the Land Launch system.

The delivery-in-orbit (DIO) agreement requires a Zenit-3SLB vehicle to launch the AMOS-3 communications satellite to geostationary orbit from the Land Launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, in the 4th Quarter of 2007. The AMOS-3 spacecraft will have both Ku-band and Ka-band transponders and will consist of fixed as well as steerable beams, to provide broadcast and communications services to Europe, the Middle East and the East Coast of the United States. It has a planned operational lifetime of 12 years.

Built by Israel Aircraft Industries' MBT Space Division, AMOS-3 will be located at a final orbital position of 4 degrees West Longitude, where it will join existing co-located satellites AMOS-1 and AMOS-2. AMOS-3 eventually will replace AMOS-1 when it comes to its operational end-of-life, currently expected in 2008. The AMOS system is owned and operated by Space-Communication Ltd.

Using existing Zenit infrastructure at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Land Launch system is based on a modified version of the proven Sea Launch vehicle, the three-stage Zenit-3SL. Land Launch's Zenit-3SLB vehicle addresses the launch needs of commercial satellites weighing up to three-and-a-half metric tonnes. The two-stage Zenit-2SLB is also available for lifting payloads up to thirteen metric tonnes to inclined low Earth orbits.

The Land Launch configurations are closely derived from the Sea Launch system. In particular, propulsion systems and all flight critical avionics are unchanged. The fairings represent the most significance difference.
In place of the Boeing-made fairing used on Sea Launch, the Zenit-3SLB adopts a 4-meter fairing made by NPO Lavochkin. It is in current production and has been flight-proven with the Block DM. The Zenit-2SLB fairing is an improved version of the heritage Zenit-2 fairing.

Land Launch uses longstanding facilities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, including:

* Yubileiny Airport - Satellite and equipment delivery
* Area 31 - Payload Processing and encapsulation
* Area 42 - Launch vehicle integration
* Area 45 - Zenit launch complex

These facilities are currently in use. Some thirty-six Zenit vehicles have been processed in Area 42 and launched from Area 45. Numerous Western satellites have been delivered through Yubileiny and processed in Area 31. Hotels are available in Baikonur City and on base in close proximity to the working areas.