GreenFalcon
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A Russian Proton-M rocket with an advanced satellite on board crashed outside of Kazakhstan's territory on Friday, about nine minutes after lift-off. The Express-AM4R would have been Russia’s most advanced and powerful satellite.
The crash was likely caused by a failure in one of the third stage’s steering engines, reported Oleg Ostapenko, the head of the Russian national space agency Roscosmos.
“The exact cause is hard to establish immediately, we will be studying the telemetry. Preliminary information points to an emergency pressure drop in a steering engine of the third stage of the rocket,”he said.
Fragments of the rocket and its cargo have apparently burned in the atmosphere, he added, which means they could not cause any damage on the ground.
The launch went abnormal on the 540th second of the flight, when an emergency engines shutdown kicked in in response to the rocket deviating from its intended trajectory, the Russian Federal Space Agency reported after the crash. The third stage, which is called Briz-M, was approximately 150km above the ground at that moment and had some 40 seconds to go before deploying its payload into the orbit.
Commenting on the failed launch, Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said “the only way to cut down the accident rate is to coherently implement the decision we have taken on the reform of the space industry.”
All other launches of Proton-type rockets will be halted at Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan until the reason for the crash is determined.
A special commission from the Russian Federal Space Agency will be in charge of investigating the causes of the crash. A separate internal probe has been launched by the Voronezh mechanic plant, the producer of the engines for Briz-M third stages.
The launch, including the equipment and possible damage to third parties, had been insured with Ingosstrakh, the company said in a statement. The coverage may amount to up to $225 billion.
The crash was likely caused by a failure in one of the third stage’s steering engines, reported Oleg Ostapenko, the head of the Russian national space agency Roscosmos.
“The exact cause is hard to establish immediately, we will be studying the telemetry. Preliminary information points to an emergency pressure drop in a steering engine of the third stage of the rocket,”he said.
Fragments of the rocket and its cargo have apparently burned in the atmosphere, he added, which means they could not cause any damage on the ground.
The launch went abnormal on the 540th second of the flight, when an emergency engines shutdown kicked in in response to the rocket deviating from its intended trajectory, the Russian Federal Space Agency reported after the crash. The third stage, which is called Briz-M, was approximately 150km above the ground at that moment and had some 40 seconds to go before deploying its payload into the orbit.
Commenting on the failed launch, Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said “the only way to cut down the accident rate is to coherently implement the decision we have taken on the reform of the space industry.”
All other launches of Proton-type rockets will be halted at Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan until the reason for the crash is determined.
A special commission from the Russian Federal Space Agency will be in charge of investigating the causes of the crash. A separate internal probe has been launched by the Voronezh mechanic plant, the producer of the engines for Briz-M third stages.
The launch, including the equipment and possible damage to third parties, had been insured with Ingosstrakh, the company said in a statement. The coverage may amount to up to $225 billion.
