Sea Launch sending 'Roll' to join 'Rock'

The Odyssey launch platform departs for the launch site

By Richard Stenger
CNN

(CNN) -- A mammoth platform and command ship have set sail in the Pacific Ocean as they prepare for an upcoming communications satellite launch from the sea.

The vessels left Los Angeles last week and should arrive within days at the equator. There, a Ukrainian rocket is scheduled to launch a digital audio broadcasting satellite on May 8.

The five-ton orbiter, dubbed Roll, will join another Boeing-made spacecraft, named Rock, already positioned in geostationary orbit south of Los Angeles.

In January, mission managers aborted the launch of Roll with less than a minute remaining in the countdown, due to a technical glitch. They decided to move forward as planned with the launch of Rock in March and then try again with Roll this month.

"It just goes to show you, that you should always Rock before you Roll," Hugh Panero, XM president, said earlier in a statement.

Artist drawing of XM car radio

The sibling satellites will comprise XM Satellite Radio, an orbiting network that will offer news and entertainment channels to U.S. subscribers. The programming, which includes some CNN channels, should become available later this summer.

Rockets lifting off from the equator, taking full advantage of the Earth's spin, can carry heavier payloads than those taking off from other latitudes.

The Sea Launch Company, based in Los Angeles, California, will conduct the launch from the Odyssey platform, a modified Norwegian oil drilling platform.

The multinational consortium of aerospace giants first launched a satellite from the sea in 1999. In 2000, the company had one failed launch in March but conducted two successful launches later in the year.

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June 15, 1999

Sea Launch
Boeing and Sea Launch
XM Satellite Radio

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