On Saturday, May 16, the carrier rocket “Proton-M” was not able to put into orbit a Mexican spacecraft communication MexSat-1. According to preliminary information, the steering motor third stage rocket collapsed bearing turbopump unit. This is the second time for “Proton” over the past year: a defective bearing is already ruined Russian communications satellite “Express AM4R” May 16, 2014.
Home “Proton” with the upper stage “Briz-M” and MexSat-1 satellite was scheduled for April 29 to the 200th site of the cosmodrome Baikonur, but request of the manufacturer, the American company Boeing (machine manufacturer), the launch was postponed: experts rechecked satellite onboard equipment. The unit was to provide mobile and fixed network, and Mexico, and a central part of South America at least 15 years.
New date of May 16 was determined. On this day, a rocket nominally left the launch pad at 8:47 Moscow time, the separation of the upper stage with the satellite was to take place exactly ten minutes. However, at 497 seconds of flight during the third stage engines “Proton” unexpectedly lost telemetry, propulsion system was disconnected, and a bunch of spacecraft razgonnika and start to rotate uncontrollably. Heptyl filled to capacity, “Breeze-M” exploded at the entrance to the dense layers, making the Mexican unit in thousands of small debris. Before the Earth did not reach anything.
The incident was immediately informed of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, ordered the creation of a commission to investigate the accident, “Proton”; it included representatives of the State Research and Production Space Center (Khrunichev) Khrunichev (rocket developer), the Ministry of Defense, the board of the Military-Industrial Commission. It was headed by the head of the Russian Space Agency, Igor Komarov.
told a senior source “b” in the space agency, yesterday the committee members reviewed the results of decoding obtained express telemetry.
According to him, the problem lay in the engine block of the third stage RD-0212 (consisting of basic RD-0213 and RD steering quad-0214.- “b “), developed at the Voronezh Chemical Automatics Design Bureau” could occur mechanical failure of the bearing turbopump unit in one of the steering motors. ” According to him, a clearer picture will appear in the coming days, when the Commission will examine all available telemetry. Recall that the May 16, 2014 because of a similar problem was lost Russian telecommunications satellite “Express AM4R” (see. “Kommersant” dated May 17, 2014).
Financial losses from the accident, Minister of Communications and Transport of Mexico Gerardo Ruiz Esparza estimated at $ 390 million (the creation of the unit and run it). Insurer made by the American company Marsh and McLennan and Russian “SOGAZ”. His spokesman said Catherine Dvoinikov “Kommersant” that the company has insured responsibility startup for damage to life, health and property of third parties, as well as the environment in the amount of $ 300 million, “the same amount insured responsibility in a controlled descent from orbit apparatus” .
Note that this time the technology of preparation of “Proton” for start-up was changed: instead of four days, required for the transportation of the rocket to the launch complex for autonomous and integrated tests of control systems ” razgonnika “and” Proton “, as well as on the final analysis of the experts identified 48 o’clock. Apparently, in the Khrunichev would start to implement as soon as possible, so as not to disturb the preparation for the next start. Now the operation of “Proton” is suspended until the end of the commission’s work: if it turns out that the cause of the accident is not a single character, then the entire last batch of these missiles will go to the bulkhead. Launch schedule will also have to adjust: the planned June Starts “Proton” with vehicles of communication Inmarsat 5F3 and Turksat will be moved at least a month. Prior to that, according to “Kommersant”, the Russian Federal Space Agency will attempt to start the machine communication “Express AM8″; he had even fly April 6 but was postponed start of the fact that in the third stage, “Proton” metal dust was detected. Mexico make up the loss of the unit using a communication satellite Morelos-3, which in the coming months it is planned to run from the American spaceport at Cape Canaveral (Florida).
The situation is extremely unpleasant in terms of interaction with foreign customers, said the source “b” in the Khrunichev “contracts for commercial launch of” Proton “is becoming increasingly difficult, the federal startup costs Center is not able to cover, and each accident insurers more wind the prices for their services. ” In 2012, the enterprise has made eight starts in the interests of other countries, in 2013 – seven, and in 2014 – only three.
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