TransOrbital Orders Strela Launch Of TrailBlazer

TransOrbital, Inc., San Diego, a  startup company, has arranged for a launch aboard the Strela launch vehicle, produced by NPO Mashinostroyeniya, Moscow. TransOrbital Inc. is developing a low-cost video photography satellite mission for lunar orbit. TransOrbital's spacecraft, 2001 TrailBlazer, will return HDTV video from lunar orbit for use as commercial products. 

The Strela is a converted intercontinental ballistic missile RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto by NATO classification). Of Russia's 160 nuclear warhead-bearing SS-19s, 55 must be decommissioned by 2007 under START 2. The SS-19 Stiletto has logged 146 launches over the past 26 years, with 143 of them "a complete success. The Strela would be launched from Svobodny, Russia's newest spaceport, a converted facility that used to serve as the base for a military ballistic missile unit. The Rokot is a competing conversion of the SS-19 performed by a joint venture between German/US DaimlerChrysler and Krunichev State Research and Production Center of Russia.

 

Some of the products being considered include: video of the Earth rising over the lunar horizon as seen from lunar orbit; low-altitude, high-speed surface video, suitable for inclusion in a 1st run science-fiction movie; a photographic atlas of the entire lunar surface for universities and planetary scientists; high-resolution aerial photography of pre-targeted sites; video of advertisers' inflatable sub-spacecraft with logos; interactive Lunar Flight CD-ROM game; final de-orbit video, up to moment of impact; and, personalized Internet postcards from the moon. 

 

The TrailBlazer spacecraft will be designed for extremely low-cost construction. The spacecraft's prime instruments are a color video camera, and a high resolution visible light imager. If there is extra capacity, one or two additional small instruments may be carried. TrailBlazer will have a minimum planned lifetime of 30 days in lunar orbit, with plans for another 60-90 days of extended operations if the spacecraft continues to function. Months later, TrailBlazer will impact on the surface of the moon. 

 

TransOrbital recently signed a Letter of Intent with a customer who will provide a significant portion of the funding required for the 2001 TrailBlazer Project. TransOrbital continues to seek additional customers to complete their funding.

 

More Information:

• Strela Data Sheet