Russia to Use "Satan" for Commercial Launches

Russia's Dnepr-1 launch vehicle, a converted ICBM, is to place five scientific satellites from three countries into orbit later this summer. Launch is scheduled for August 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but the launch window will be open until September 30, Vladimir Andreyev, director general of the International Space Company MKK Kosmotrans told Show News.
According to Andreyev, all the contracts for this "cluster launch" of satellites have been effected and launch preparation is under way, with the Dnepr-1 already inside the launch silo. The launcher will carry the Italian-made Megsat-1 and Unisat satellites, Saudsat-1A and Saudsat-1B satellites from the Saudi Arabia Space Research Institute, and the Malaysian Tiungsat satellite to a 650-km orbit.

The Dnepr-1 was developed from the RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, known in the West as the SS-18 Satan. It marks an important step for Russian and Ukrainian space companies as well as the Strategic Missile Forces in the development of small scientific satellites. The Dnepr-1 offers manufacturers of small satellites the possibility of regular and relatively inexpensive launches. Depending on the complexity of installing a satellite on the rocket, launching services cost from $10,000 to $15,000 per kilo of payload.

Under the terms of the START-1 and START-2 Treaties, the SS-18 ICBMs must be withdrawn from use and disposed of by 2008, either by destruction or by launching with commercial payloads. Launching is the more attractive option. It costs $45,000 to $80,000 to destroy a solid-propellant ICBM, about $11,000 for a liquid-propellant missile. Use of a converted ICBM to launch a typical commercial payload can earn about $2.1 million.

The first successful launch of the Dnepr-1 launcher took place on April 21 1999, when a British UoSAT-12 satellite from Surrey Space Centre Limited was placed in orbit. MKK Kosmotrans plans to convert more than 150 surplus Satans into Dnepr-1s, and is presently canvassing orders for a third launch for the first half of 2001.

By Nikolai Novichkov