From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article ,   
   Paul Blay  wrote:   
   >Both Thuraya 1 and 2 were launched on Zenit SL from equatorial located Odyssey   
   >mobile platform.  Although the platform was located (as far as I can   
   >tell) at 154W 0N the launch /target/ at satellite separation was   
   >6.3deg.  Wouldn't that introduce a fuel life penalty?   
      
   Only a small one.  Doing a small plane change as part of a large burn   
   (e.g., GSO insertion) is almost free.   
      
   Which doesn't explain *why* they did this.  Sea Launch can pretty much   
   dial in your choice of orbit inclination.  For the first few launches,   
   they did launch at a slight inclination to avoid any possibility that a   
   launch failure could drop debris on the Galapagos, but that's long since   
   been discontinued -- they *have* done launches to essentially zero   
   inclination.   
      
   It might perhaps be a constraint on where the second stage falls.  It's   
   not uncommon for Zenit 3SL second-stage burnout to be in a suborbital   
   trajectory, with the third stage supplying the final push to an initial   
   parking orbit.  Not *all* the suborbital-staging launches have been at a   
   significant inclination, mind you, but it could be a function of things   
   like payload mass.   
   --   
   "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer   
                                   -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net   
      
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