Dish and Sea Launch?

[Former member 501]

Which of the new Dish Satellites (or the ones they have deals to rent) expected to use Sea Launch this year?

The "anomaly" on yesterdays launch will effect such launchs.

 

[rocatman]

The E-11 satellite was suppose to be the next mission for Sea Launch. Based on the video I saw of the launch failure/explosion. The launch platform was probably severely damaged. I don't believe Sea Launch has a second launch platform but they may. I would not be suprised if E-11 goes on another vehicle.

 

[RVD420]

I hope Dish does the smart thing and buy launch insurance.

 

[navychop]

Not sure they can. They've filed lawsuits over insurance in the past and I'm not sure the insurance companies want to deal with them. I believe Echostar X was "self insured." Perhaps someone with more definite information will chime in.

I wonder how long it would take to get a slot on another launcher? One year? Two? They no doubt would have to make some physical changes to mate the satellite to a different launcher, but surely that is not a major task.

 

[rocatman]

Perhaps Dish can use their relationship with the Chinese to get an earlier ride on a Long March 3 Vehicle. Dish is building a satellite for them to provide communication/video for I believe the 2008 Summer Olympics. Dish is doing this to get around the export control laws so that sensitive technology does not get turned over to the Chinese. Dish launched E-1 on a Chinese launcher.

 

[navychop]

Not a reliable launcher, the Long March.

 

[lakebum431]

So who does D* use for their launches. Seems like they have alot more riding on upcoming launches anyway.

 

[bgsmallwood]

So who does D* use for their launches. Seems like they have alot more riding on upcoming launches anyway.

One of the upcoming launches was to have been a D* satellite along with the one for E*. Maybe D* should stop counting their chickens before they hatch.

 

[lakebum431]

Wow, that could put them in a real bind with the advertising that has been going out about all the new capacity. I wonder if they have a back up plan?

 

[Cyclone]

No, they have been saying that they will have over 150 HD channels for well over a year now. They will just have to keep on saying it.

Delivering on it is secondary.

 

[KwestJones]

Who's to say they won't be able to launch? One of D*'s new satellites is being launched by a different company. It may be possible for the other company to do both launches...

 

[lakebum431]

Oh, I wasn't saying they couldn't launch. I was just asking the question. I honestly know nothing about how they are launching their birds. I just meant that if they couldn't launch them it could really put them in a bad spot with all the advertising they have been doing.

 

[cforrest]

D10 is going up in Kazakhstan, always was. D11 which was to be launched later in the year was to be a Sea-Launch delivery, obviously that is going to be delayed or moved to another launch vehicle. Perhaps Ariane-5, who knows! So some HD is coming and they will probably have enough capacity to cover all the CONUS HD channels that do exist, only time will tell. Bottom line is the Sea-Launch failure is not good for either E* or D*, it's a loss all around.

 

[Poke]

This one did not go well.

Broadband Satellite Launch Explosion
Caught on video...

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/81333

A commercial Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket disintegrated "in a fiery catastrophe" aboard its ocean launch platform (a converted Norwegian oil-drilling rig) yesterday, destroying a sophisticated telecommunications satellite payload. The 13,050-pound NSS 8 satellite that was on board was designed to offer broadband capacity to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Asia. The explosion was captured on video and is available at YouTube (nobody was harmed). The launch would have been the 24th for Sea Launch, which had one previous launch failure on March 12, 2000. The company planned six launches in 2007, which included launches for Echostar and DirecTV.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMG2SBwIcrM