The International Launch Services (ILS) aligned its Proton‐K launcher, cleared from the stranglehold of quotas, and commercialized it alongside the US Atlas‐2A and 2AS launchers. In 1996, when ILS debuted its launches, the price for a launch on Proton was negotiated between 50 and 60 million dollars. Each year, the Russian federal government launched four to five missions on Proton, whereas the Pentagon and NASA ensured three to four missions on the Atlas' annual manifest. The price war on the Proton had been a hard pill to swallow for the Russian partners, because the launchers had practically been sold at cost, while 15% of each contract had to return to the joint account. In 2010, ILS had perfectly integrated itself onto the market, but it would have to face three major challenges: maintaining the reliability and availability of the Proton, the arrival of a new, very aggressive competitor and the long‐term succession of the Proton.
Standing the Test of the Market
The Proton Launcher ; 301-330
2018-02-12
30 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
PANEL STANDING TOOL AND PANEL STANDING METHOD USING THE PANEL STANDING TOOL
European Patent Office | 2021
|