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Sea Launch To Orbit XM-3 Today |
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Feb. 22/Satnews Daily/ — Sea Launch is launching XM Satellite Radio's XM-3 satellite today, February 22, at the beginning of a one-hour launch window that opens at 7:52 pm PST (GMT 03:52, Feb. 23).
Sea Launch postponed the launch on Thursday due to rough sea conditions at its equatorial launch platform at 154 degrees West.
A Zenit-3SL rocket will deliver the satellite to orbit, and the XM-3 will eventually come to rest at 85 degrees West. Initially, the launch was to take place on Thursday and later Friday but launch officials postponed the flight because of strong sea currents and winds in the area of the Odyssey oceanic platform. They said, however, the rocket and satellite are safe and ready to fly.
XM-3 was manufactured by Boeing Satellite Systems and is based on that company's 702 platform. XM-3 is the tenth Boeing 702 manufactured by Boeing in El Segundo, Calif.
Like its sister spacecraft, XM-1 and XM-2, XM-3 will transmit more than 130 channels of digital-quality music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children’s programming to subscribers across the continental United States.
The Zenit-3SL launch vehicle will liftoff from the Odyssey Launch Platform and insert the XM-3 commercial digital radio broadcast satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. Sea Launch said the spacecraft, fully fueled at the time of launch, will weigh approximately 4703 kg (10,346 lbs).
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