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Title: Software trouble to blame for Sea Launch flop

Story Filed: Thursday, March 23, 2000 2:44 AM EST

TOKYO, March 23 (Itar-Tass) -- A regrettable mistake in software was the cause for a floppy liftoff on last March 13 of the third satellite under the international Sea Launch project, Itar-Tass learnt from managing director of the Design Transport Engineering Office Gennady Byuryukov here on Thursday.

He represents the Russian enterprise at the international exhibition "Tokyo Aerospace 2000" which opened in the Japanese capital.

It was established during the investigation, he continued, that all launch systems "worked smoothly", and there were no claims to them.

This is also corroborated by the fact that a modified Ukrainian-made launch vehicle Zenit with a British communications satellite flew over 4,000 kilometers. Problems started when the first stage worked out.

It is now established exactly, Byuryukov stressed, that one of automatic control commands from Earth did not pass at this phase of the flight. It was absent in software at all due to some inexplicable reason, for which the Russian Energia Space Corporation is responsible.

The software is updated after each liftoff. Specialists of the corporation made a simple but very regrettable mistake this time, which entailed the loss of an expensive satellite.

However, this failure, the managing director noted, will not influence further implementation of the Sea Launch unique programme. Apart from Russian and Ukrainian firms, its partners include U.S. and Norwegian companies.

The management of the joint company has already confirmed that the next blastoff will take place exactly on schedule --June 19. Then, two more lauches -- in August and November -- are planned by the year-end.

The unique nature of the project is that the floating launch complex is used for the first time in the world to fire off rockets. It is brought to a required point in the Pacific directly before a blastoff.

Launching is fully automated and is made with the use of a remote control system, located on an escort ship.

Copyright ) 2000, ITAR/TASS News Agency, all rights reserved.

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 23, 2000