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Russia develops fully automated pads for safer rocket launch
In a bid to increase the safety of rocket launches Russia has developed fully automated pads.
In a bid to increase the safety of rocket launches Russia has developed fully automated pads.
"While performing dangerous operations, such as fueling of rockets and booster units, workers do not have to approach
the rocket," Bureau Director General Alexei Gonchar said.
"The technology was used in the Sea Launch program. A rocket installed on the Odyssey platform is fueled and
launched from the command vessel located several kilometers away," he said.
The modernisation allows for taking payloads to geostationary orbits, he added.
Currently, Baikonur, Russia's technical and launch facility is preparing to launch a Zenit 3SLB with the Malaysian telecom satellite Measat 1R onboard.
"The launch is planned for 1:50 a.m. Moscow time on June 22," a spaceport source told Itar-Tass.
That would be the third takeoff under the Land Launch international program. The Land Launch has positioned the Israeli satellite Amos 3 (in April 2008) and the American Telstar 11N (in February 2009).
