Live Launch! at 1:15 Pacific Daylight Time, Today.

Sea Launch is a start up space company, which is having a very decisive missile launch at 1:18 Pacific Daylight Time, today.

This is being webcast, beginning at 1:03 PDT here:
Sea Launch Webcast

Although they have a "reliable" missile, their last launch had a catastrophic leak of fuel, and burned up on their launch site in a huge fireball, forcing the company into bankruptcy.

Now Sea Launch is back, better capitalized than before, and trying to launch a communications satellite into orbit. The satellite is worth millions, so it's a big opportunity for Sea Launch to get back into the business.

The interesting thing is, Sea Launch is based in Long Beach, California, but launches their missiles from a retrofitted oil drilling platform, from a point near the equator, South of Hawaii (roughly), to take advantage of the Doldrums, and the spin of the earth, at that location.

Webcast starts only 15 minutes before launch, so be there, or watch the video later!

There is a new communications satellite at 7° West, in space today!

Welcome back to the space business, Sea Launch! Beautiful launch! :biggrin:

(although your web casts need to start on time)

It's a rocket, not a missile for pete's sake!

I'm also very excited that a private company specialized in private launches, did a private commercial launch that put even more private junk in space. And I've learned all about it, thanks to your CBoard commercial break. And they do it from a sea platform. That's so much cooler than NASA.

one of the advantages is that you can do it right on the equator, without getting permission from the leaders of a given land mass. even more advantageous is the fact that doing it from the middle of the ocean makes it much less likely that falling debris will land on something expensive and/or alive, in the event that something should go catastrophically wrong.

I thought Sea Launch was quite smart, and definitely on the cutting edge. Nobody else is doing their launches on a movable sea platform, for commercial purposes.

The beauty of it, besides the cutting edge part, is that their rates are WAY cheaper than NASA's rates. That means not only can more get done, for less money, but NASA itself is cutting it's cost per rocket from 10 to 100 times less, (projected), by using private companies to build their next two types of rockets (one for low orbit to the ISS and etc., and a much larger rocket for the trip to Mars, etc.).

There's a time for governmental agencies to work - clearly, we'd have never gone to the moon yet, using private companies. There's also a time for the governmental agencies to step aside, and let the much more efficient private sector, go to work.

Sea Launch, by the way, is a Russian consortium, HQ is in Switzerland, with most rocket components made in Uzbekestan. Only parts of it are made by Boeing in the USA. Their facility in California, is only there because it's close to where they want to launch from.

So it's not me waving the flag of the US, here. It's me waving the flag of smart, efficient, and international scientists, and business.

And of course, I'd love to go into space some day. :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adak

There's a time for governmental agencies to work - clearly, we'd have never gone to the moon yet, using private companies. There's also a time for the governmental agencies to step aside, and let the much more efficient private sector, go to work.

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You couldn't find me in more agreement. Unfortunately I don't think that's the time yet. Not when the private sector doesn't seem much interested in exploration and knowledge in this sector, but simply launching more comms into space.

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Originally Posted by Elkvis

odoing it from the middle of the ocean makes it much less likely that falling debris will land on something expensive and/or alive, in the event that something should go catastrophically wrong.

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It does however make it more likely to get hit by falling debris from previously launched satellites after something goes catastrophically wrong.

I'm imagining the chuckles at Cape Canaveral yesterday had there been a headline like this:

STRAY CHUNK OF FALLING NASA UARS SATELLITE DESTROYS SEA LAUNCH FLOATING ROCKET PAD

Which would have put a whole new spin on the phrase, "It's not rocket science!" for at least a few years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adak

And of course, I'd love to go into space some day. :cool:

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When you do, it might be really commercialized thanks to private business. So long as there aren't ads in space, I don't care who does what. Really, what's wrong is someone will always want something stupid carved on the surface of the moon that I don't like and will suffer staring at from Earth.

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Originally Posted by Mario F.

You couldn't find me in more agreement. Unfortunately I don't think that's the time yet. Not when the private sector doesn't seem much interested in exploration and knowledge in this sector, but simply launching more comms into space.

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launching more comms into space will generate revenue that could eventually enable relatively cheap space tourism.

Concerning cheap space flight (and launching from a mobile sea platform)

COPENHAGEN SUBORBITALS - OPEN SOURCE AND NON PROFIT SPACE

These guys had their inaugural flight 2 months ago, this was managed with nothing but volunteer work and 37.000 euros.

@MK27:
That's exactly why Sea Launch waited 24 hours before their last launch. It was originally scheduled for Friday, but they were under (roughly), the path of the falling satellite, and couldn't take the risk of any collisions. For political purposes, they don't broadcast why they delayed the launch one day, since they want to maintain good relations with every country.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mario F.

You couldn't find me in more agreement. Unfortunately I don't think that's the time yet. Not when the private sector doesn't seem much interested in exploration and knowledge in this sector, but simply launching more comms into space.

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The private sector space companies are VERY interested in every kind of space exploration. Clearly, very significant finances must be in place for something like a journey to Mars, or the Moon.

NASA has already awarded the contract for the next two rockets they'll need. A slender "toothpick" for low orbit deliveries to the ISS, etc., and a huge rocket for the trip to the Moon, Mars, etc. The big one will use the same solid rocket boosters on it's side, as the shuttle rocket had (no big external tanks, though).

This is a pic of the big STS, (larger and much more powerful than any other rocket, to date):

that looks like a Saturn V with a pair of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters strapped to the side of it. it looks like just an artist's rendering, so I don't know how official it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adak

The private sector space companies are VERY interested in every kind of space exploration. Clearly, very significant finances must be in place for something like a journey to Mars, or the Moon.

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Hmm, no.

There may be ad-lib donations done from the goodness of their philanthropic hearts. This has been the extent of the private sector presence in this field. Well, that and of course all the subcontracting that goes when when NASA or ESA need things done that aren't already being covered -- or can't be covered -- by universities. The whole space exploration thing has been vastly publicly funded. The private sector donates and then gets some of that back (or more) from its contracts.

Meanwhile there's also the problem of international agreements that simply just don't allow a company to directly benefit from, say an exploration to Mars. Until we decide how to divide planets and moons, there's no Property of Mars or the Moon. If you know what I mean.

So, why I'm not very receptive to privately owned launch platforms and stuff. Sure I have nothing against them (but if we are to start making commercials around here I want to talk about my products. I own a very interesting Rapid Data Entry framework I'd like to be publicized on CBoard if you don't mind).

What needs to change is the regulations in place that will allow for the private sector to explore the riches out there. But for that to happen we need space exploration to really take off. But for that to happen, we need funding. And since public funding is today a shadow of the glorious days of old, I'd rather see private companies invest in their own future by actually donating substantially to space exploration and then lobbying for regulations that could benefit them.

So, a platform launching company? Meh.

Private companies donate substantially to space exploration first, and THEN lobbying for regulations to benefit them? That's not possible. We're losing rocket/space companies all the time because it's SO expensive to get set up in the rocket business - and somewhat risky also.

I said these companies were very interested, not super rich.

I have no business interests in any rocket company. Used to help make missiles as a kid, with some older guys in the neighborhood. They were solid propellant, primitive, and flew almost too fast to follow with your eyes. Had to go out to the desert to fire them off.

Not to be a doomsayer, but all this rocket technology should just save our butts some day. You know that sooner or later (in the geologic time frame), our little blue marble is going to be the destination for a good sized asteroid/meteor/comet, and we're either going to be able to act with speed and force to keep it from hitting us, or we're going to be losing a lot of lives, and maybe a lot of species, really quickly. It's happened a few times in the past, and it will happen again. I thought of this more as a "sometime" intellectual exercise (yes, it will happen but not in thousands of years, so who cares?). Then I saw the video - it was supposed to have been video of a U.F.O. - what it was, (and clearly so), was a good sized meteor that hit our upper atmosphere, at a shallow angle, and was ricocheted off, away from us.

That made the whole concept much more immediate to me.