By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The launch of a modified Zenit rocket to put an Israeli communications satellite into orbit has been scheduled for April 24, Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said on Monday.
Russia started preparations for the launch of a Zenit-3SLB rocket with a DM-SLB booster and Israeli AMOS-3 satellite on board from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in October last year.
“This weekend, the booster was delivered to site 31 [at Baikonur] for fuelling and fitting with the AMOS-3 satellite,” Roscosmos said in a statement.
The $170-mln satellite will join the AMOS-1 and AMOS-2 satellites to increase capacity, expand coverage areas, and enhance direct cross-Atlantic links that connect the Mideast to Europe and the U.S. East Coast, according to Space Communications Ltd., the operator of the AMOS satellite fleet.
The Zenit-3SLB is a modernized version of the Zenit-3SL carrier rocket whose launches have been conducted from the Sea Launch consortium’s floating launch platform in the Pacific Ocean.