Russian space agency Roscosmos and rocket and space-station hardware builder RSC Energia are working to restore commercial viability to the Sea Launch floating platform project, Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said on Thursday.
"We are preparing a business plan together with RSC Energia to make Sea Launch profitable. We need to guarantee from three to four launches (from the platform) a year to reach that goal. We already have contracts for launches for the next two years," Popovkin told Echo Moskvy radio.
The most recent launch was in September 2011 from the platform in the Pacific Ocean.
Sea Launch AG was formed in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, and managed by U.S. Boeing. It resumed operations last year after a 30-month hiatus that saw passage through U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, change of ownership from Boeing to Energia and a move from California to Switzerland.
