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Preparations are now underway for the launch of the Koreasat 5 communications satellite on 03:10 GMT, August 22 (8:10 pm PDT Monday, August 21). Sea Launch coverage of this mission will be approximately an hour-and-a-half in length. The broadcast program will be carried via streaming video on this site, beginning 17 minutes before liftoff , and will continue through the completion of the mission.


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Sea Launch is now preparing for the launch of the Koreasat 5 communications satellite for the Agency For Defence Development of Korea and the KT Corporation, in August. The 4465-kg spacecraft will provide advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, as well as military and conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region.

Built by Alcatel Alenia Space in Cannes, France, this new generation Spacebus 4000 C1 platform is fitted with the Avionique 4000 avionics system and accommodates 36 transponders in multi-band frequencies to meet its multi-mission objectives. A hybrid spacecraft designed for a 15-year service life, Koreasat 5 is owned jointly by the Agency for Defence Development of Korea and KT Corporation. It will be located in geostationary orbit at 113 degrees East Longitude as part of South Korea’s new high-capacity Spacecom System.
The Agency for Defence Development has managed the military side of the Koreasat 5 program and the Joint Chief of Staff of Korean Armed Forces will operate the SHF and Ka band transponders on the spacecraft to provide satellite communications services. Based in Daejon (about 120 miles south of Seoul), the Agency for Defence Development (ADD) was established in 1970 and is the sole national agency for R&D in defence technology. This agency contributes to enforcing national defence, improving the national R&D capacity and fostering domestic industry.

KT Corporation will operate 24 Ku band transponders. Half of these will be switched to regional beams to provide advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, as well as conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region. The remaining 12 Ku band transponders will replace Koreasat 2 capacity for domestic use in South Korea. Based in Seoul, KT Corporation (KT) was established in 1981 by the Korean Government and later privatised as a public corporation in 2002. The KT vision - The Value Networking Company - embodies a strong commitment to maximizing customer value and pursuing corporate growth by optimising customised solution offerings.

In addition to building this state-of-the-art spacecraft, Alcatel Alenia Space, based in France, is also providing the ground control system to both KT and ADD, as well as Launch and Early Orbit Phase, and in-orbit tests. Alcatel Alenia Space is the European leader in satellite systems, at the forefront of orbit infrastructures. Created in July 2005, the company brings together the vast experience and know-how of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio to form a new leading force in European space technology. It represents a worldwide standard for space development, from navigation to telecommunications, from meteorology to environmental monitoring, from defence to science and observation.

From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle will lift the 4465-kg Koreasat 5 spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position at 113 degrees East Longitude.
Lifting off from the Odyssey Launch Platform, a Zenit-3SL rocket will begin its ascent phase of flight. The first stage of the vehicle will separate two-and-a-half minutes after lift-off, and the protective payload fairing will be jettisoned 75 seconds later. Following a six-minute burn, the second stage will separate from the Block DM upper stage. The Block DM begins an eight-and-a-half minute operation and then shutdown for a 34-minute coast period. The Block DM will burn a second time for three minutes. Following this second burn, and another 10-and-a-half minute coast, the spacecraft will separate from the upper stage over the coast of Gabon, in Africa. A ground station at Fucino, Italy, is expected to acquire the first signal from the spacecraft a few minutes after spacecraft separation.