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Another Proton rocket fails - 2 sats lost

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  • Another Proton rocket fails - 2 sats lost

    Sounds like their Briz-M upper stage issues weren't fully fixed

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    Botched Russian Launch Junks Two Telecom Satellites

    August 07, 2012

    A botched Russian launch junked two multi-million dollar satellites on Tuesday that were to provide Indonesia and Russia with telecom services, adding to a series of failures that have dogged the once-pioneering space industry.

    Russia’s space agency said the failure of the upper stage of the launch atop its workhorse Proton rocket led to the loss of Indonesia’s Telekom-3 and Russia’s Express MD2 satellites.

    The error after takeoff from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan late on Monday replicates a mishap that scrapped the $265-million Express AM-4 satellite last summer, casting doubt on the reliability of the Russian rocket.

    The space agency, Roskosmos, said in a statement that the Briz-M booster had fired its engines on schedule, but they had burned for only seven of the programmed 18 minutes and 5 seconds needed to push the satellites into their planned orbit.

    “The chances that the satellites will separate from the booster and reach the designated orbit are practically non-existent,” a space industry source told the state news agency RIA.

    Launches of such Proton rockets will most likely be suspended pending expert analysis of the failure, the Russian industry source said.

    Moscow, which carries out some 40 percent of global space launches, is struggling to restore confidence in its industry after a string of mishaps last year, including the failure of a mission to return samples from the Martian moon Phobos.
    >
    Dr. Mordrid
    ----------------------------
    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

  • #2
    How do they even get insurance on their rockets anymore :s I hope SpaceX gets approved for crew launches soon. I'd hate to be a passenger on a Russian rocket at the moment.
    “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
    –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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    • #3
      Can't happen soon enough for my taste.

      SpaceX (DragonRider), Boeing (CST-100), and Sierra Nevada Corp. (Dream Chaser) got contracts last week totalling $1.1 billion to accelerate their commercial crew spacecraft under the new CCiCAP program. SpaceX expects to fly people by 2015, and Boeing & SNC by 2016-2017.

      SpaceX has a milestone to do a robotic pad abort test of the SuperDraco abort system late in 2013, and a robotic flight abort test at Max-Q (highest dynamic pressure) early in 2014. Before flying NASA (US / ESA / Canadian / Japanese) crews there will be a short hop orbital mission then a flight to ISS, both with crew members drawn from the Astronaut Corps SpaceX is building - many former Shuttle crew members, pilots & commanders.

      In yet another example of big govt. efficiency, NASA's own Orion may not carry crews until 2022 - if it survives the budget axe once the commercials prove their bones as both DragonRider and CST-100 are upgradeable to the deep space missions Orion is being developed for.
      Last edited by Dr Mordrid; 8 August 2012, 12:13.
      Dr. Mordrid
      ----------------------------
      An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

      I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

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