The inaugural launch from Europe's Guiana Space Center of a Russian Soyuz rocket is likely to be delayed until mid-2009 following delays in production of a specially designed mobile gantry being built in Russia, according to government and industry officials.
Unlike almost every other aspect of the Soyuz launch installation, the mobile gantry is not a copy of the Soyuz launch installations long in use at Russia's Plesetsk and Baikonur cosmodromes. For Europe's Soyuz operations, the satellite payload will be placed upright onto the vehicle rather than integrated horizontally as is the common Russian practice.
Whether the mid-2009 maiden liftoff can be maintained will depend in part on how smoothly the Russian engineering teams scheduled to arrive in March are integrated into daily operations.
Around 200 Russian Soyuz technicians — few of them fluent in English or French — are being brought to the spaceport to complete construction of the launch site, which is some 15 kilometers distant from Europe's Ariane 5 launch operations.
Most commercial satellites launched here are U.S.-built or have U.S.-made parts. As a result, security requirements insisted on by, among others, the U.S. government, made it necessary to separate the Russian teams and the Soyuz operation from the rest of the Guiana launch base.
In addition to the Russian construction crews to be stationed here in 2008, up to 250 Russian launch specialists will arrive for each monthlong Soyuz launch campaign. Current estimates are that two to four Soyuz vehicles will be launched per year.
"When the first boat full of Russians arrives and the 200 Russians begin working with us — only then will we have a clear idea of how long it will take to finish the installation," said Frederic Munoz, deputy director for ground operations at the French space agency, CNES. "They were scheduled to arrive in January, but the delay in the gantry's completion automatically delayed their arrival by three months."
Preparing the launch pad and operating Soyuz launches will require an unprecedented collaboration between the French and European teams on one side, and the Russian experts on the other. Rocket technology is typically viewed around the world as something of strategic national importance.
Source:Xinhua/Agencies
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