From Russia with Love

7 responses to “From Russia with Love”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 25, 2013 at 5:16 am

   Models of various satellites, using a common bus:
   

   Renditions of: SkyTerra
   
   That little box at the hub is the size of a mini-bus, just like the other GEO birds, and those long solar arrays and 72-ft. reflector unfold in space.

   and THOR-7
   

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2. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 25, 2013 at 3:51 pm

   P.S., the one launch exception so far for Loral was from this modified oil platform, which I toured with my buddy Erik

   

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3. 

   In Memoriam: jerryfi_99

   Jul 25, 2013 at 7:16 pm

   That brings back some memories, having worked on a few of those programs at Ford Aerospace and Communications Corp (which begat Loral), years ago. Thanks for posting.
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryfi_99/2812684863/
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryfi_99/2813535292/
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryfi_99/2815790242/
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryfi_99/2815790186/
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerryfi_99/sets/72157631749970122/
   (oops, needed to edit the 4th link)

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4. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 26, 2013 at 4:40 pm

   Wow… and the space bus probably looks familiar….

   The recent Proton launch going horizontal off the pad reminded me of Loral’s experience launching with the Chinese Long March…

   Washington Post: "the Loral satellite — Intelsat 7A — blew up. The Chinese rocket detonated 22 seconds into flight, obliterating the hotel where Western observers had dropped off their luggage only hours before."

   They have a piece of that Loral satellite on the wall at Buck’s:

   
   launch details

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5. 

   In Memoriam: jerryfi_99

   Jul 26, 2013 at 8:00 pm

   I left FACC in about 1980-ish, before the Loral change, and the Long March fiasco. … I then misspent many yrs at the Blue Cube, and some other like places. I thought the same thing as you when I saw the video of the Proton launch failure. When I was a kid, in the ’50s, I remember seeing a docu-movie (16mm, B&W) of failed launch after failed launch. Mostly Vanguard, Viking and V-2s. Amazing how many spectacular failures had to be overcome. Inspired me to get into the space biz. 🙂 But now…. Failure is Not an Option… =8-0

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6. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 27, 2013 at 1:38 am

   Amen…

   “In Apollo, they are famous for saying failure is not an option.
   But failure has to be an option.
   In art and exploration, it’s a leap of faith.
   In whatever you’re doing, failure is an option.
   But fear is not.”
   — James Cameron

   Reply
7. 

   jurvetson

   Jul 10, 2014 at 4:34 pm

   And from the logic and marketing department… interview of Yuri Prokhorov (Director General of the Russian Satellite Communications Co.) in the current Space News, on why the Federal launches of the Proton have failed so dramatically but the commercial launches of the same rocket haven’t. Here’s an excerpt of the Q&A:

   What was your 2013 revenue?
   About 5.8 billion rubles… We lost AM1, AM2, MD1, MD2, AM4 and now AM4R, all within the last few years. Six satellites — three during launch, and three in orbit.

   Proton’s failures of late have been on Russian federal missions, even though commercial launches are more frequent. How can this be?
   It is like Russian roulette. We are being provided with a service for free, and we don’t have direct contract with Khrunichev.

   But Russian roulette over time would distribute risk to players from both sides. In recent years, it’s exclusively Russian federal missions that have failed.
   If you play Russian roulette with a machine gun there is 100 percent assurance of the outcome.

   Kapow! I can imagine his wry smile. He must have thought he just nailed it with that macho answer. =)

   And it reminds me that the hobby rocketry community launched a huge 1/12 scale Proton-M… video

   Reply