News: Russian space engineer speaks about new launch pad in French Guiana

Russian space engineer speaks about new launch pad in French Guiana

29 July 2003 12:23

Moscow, 29 July: The experience accumulated in Russia in the course of
the implementation of the Energiya-Buran programme will come in handy
when building a new launch pad at the French launch site in Courou,
French Guiana, First Deputy General Designer at the Barmin design
bureau Vladimir Klimov told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday [29 July]. The launch
pad in Courou will serve to launch Russian carrier rockets of the
Soyuz series. "An important feature of the launch system in Courou is
the vertical assembly of the carrier rocket with a booster and a
spacecraft," said Klimov. In Baykonur and Plesetsk, satellites are
attached to rockets that are in a horizontal position and the entire
complex is then raised to a vertical position on the launch pad,
Klimov explained. According to him, the Russian horizontal assembly
technique has advantages related to the reduction of operational costs
during the preparation and launch. However, the French partners opted
for a vertical assembly approach in the belief that their approach is
universal in character and allows to attach satellites that require
vertical transportation. "With the French requirements in mind, we are
using the engineering procedures we tested when building a similar
structure for the Energiya-Buran system in our work of constructing a
stationary service tower in Courou," Klimov said. [ITAR-TASS news
agency]

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