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INVESTMENT IN DESIGN ture. The Seattle-based organiza- tion also has responsibility for establishing the homeport facili- ties in Long Beach, where close proximity to major U.S. satellite manufacturers facilitates trans- portation and encapsulation opera- tions for customers. RSC-Energia, responsible for Russia's space program, has a 25 percent holding in Sea Launch. The Moscow-domiciled enterprise supplies the Block DM component of the system, the final stage of the rocket which positions the satellite in its final orbit, and is also respon- sible for mission launch support. The Ukrainian co-venturer KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash, with a 15 percent stake, is the source of the Zenit rocket forming the first two stages of the launch vehicle. The partnership has a substan- tial forward workload, through commitments from U.S. companies to 18 launches, plus a number of options. The opening dispatch from the Pacific into geostationary transfer orbit will be of a Hughes HS702 communications satellite. Designated Galaxy XI, the satellite will become part of the PanAmSat constellation, serving customers throughout the western hemi- sphere. Galaxy XI is the first of 13 launches booked by Hughes Space & Communications of Los Angeles, while five have been contracted by another Californian firm, Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto. The precise cost of the Sea Launch program has not been dis- closed, the joint venture company conceding only that it is in excess of $500 million. In addition to the funding inputs from the partners, debt financing for the scheme has been arranged by Chase bank, with the participa- tion of the World Bank. Sea Launch Co. has been registered in the Cayman Islands as a limited duration corporation, with offices in Oslo and Seattle, plus the Long Beach marine base. Sea Launch Commander was expected to sail from St. Petersburg on June 10 for Long Beach, its 105-ft. (32-m) beam, one of the design parameters, permit- ting access through the Panama Canal. Due to put out of Vyborg and into the Gulf of Finland on June 15, the platform will make the entire tran- sit to California under its own power, using a multi-thruster installation permitting speeds of up to 12 knots. Depending on anticipated southern hemisphere weather conditions, and on com- parative costs, the voyage options were via the Suez Canal, or by way July, 1998 of the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn, with envisaged homeport arrival in August. First and second stages of the Zenit rockets are being manufac- tured in the Ukraine at Dnepropetrovsk, with the third, or upper stage, known as the Block DM, coming from Moscow, while payload fairing and interstage structure is supplied from Seattle. An initial inventory of inert, unfu- eled rocket components will be transported to Long Beach aboard the ACS on its positioning voyage. Subsequently, componentry trans- fer to the homeport in California will be made using an adapted, German-owned RoRo vessel. From buffer storage at the Long Beach terminal, rocket compo- nents will be moved aboard the Circle 278 on Reader Service Card ACS as needed, for assembly in the vessel's cavernous, below-decks factory area. The launch customers' satellites will be processed in the purpose- built payload handling facility at Long Beach. The craft will be loaded with hypergolic fuels, encapsulated within a payload fairing made of advanced aero- space composites, and prepared for 9 R.W. FERNSTRUM & COMPANY 50 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN ENGINEERED KEEL COOLING FERNSTRUM 1716 11th Avenue, Menominee, Ml 49858 Ph: 906-863-5553 Fax: 906-863-5634 You want the best of everything on your boat, as long as it's affordable...right? Then why don't you give us a call? For the cost of a phone call, well figure out which of over 8000 different Gridcoolers is right for cooling your engine in your application. How can you go wrong? We've been engineering cooling systems for all types of marine engines for the last 50 years. Our product is so durable, efficient and easy to install that the U.S. Navy wrote their keel cooling specifications around our Gridcoolers. Why take chances when it comes to your engines' dependability? Do it right the first time... use Fernstrum Gridcoolers. ualities found only in the GRIDCOOLER: • Completely assembled and factory tested • Silver brazed and welded joints • Heavy gauge 90/10 copper-nickel or 5000 series aluminum rectangular tube • Custom designed • The most compact form of keel cooling
