Russian Proton FAILS, all Proton launches suspended

[DocM]

Here we go again....sources say another upper stage failure.

Over the last 5 years at least one Proton per year has failed, for a total of 6.  All payloads were for Russian missions, this Express-AM4R being a large commsat built in Europe by Astrium.

http://rt.com/news/159304-proton-rocket-crashed-kazakhstan/

Russian Proton rocket carrying advanced satellite crashes - report

A Russian Proton rocket with an advanced satellite on board crashed outside of Kazakhstan's territory after lift-off, RIA Novosti cited a source as saying.

There are so far no reports of damage or casualties.

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 source told RIA Novosti.

There was an emergency engines shutdown on the 540th second following the launch, the Russian Federal Space Agency said, as quoted by Itar-Tass.

The Proton rocket, carrying an advanced Express-AM4R satellite, was launched on schedule from Baikonur on Friday. The Express-AM4R would have been Russias most advanced and powerful satellite.

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[FloatingFatMan]

Another part hammered in upside down? :p

[Beittil]

Lol, i had that exact same thought!

[Raa]

"Oh look, the decimal point is in the wrong place!"

[DocM]

Not a good day.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/rocket-crashes-after-high-tech-satellite-launch-russians-say-n106896

"Contact with the carrier rocket was lost in the 540th second after liftoff," Itar-Tass quoted an official with the Russian space agency as saying. "It is known that the nose cone did not separate from the rocket."

Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko says the 3rd stage engine failed at T+545 seconds (T+9:05), but there were already problems 20 seconds before that - one of the 4 vernier engines started to fail.

These engines share a turbopump, and back in the late 1990's a similar problem with a Proton launch was traced to a foreign material getting into the turbopump.

That failed launch caused concerns that one of the first ISS modules, one with maneuvering engines, may not get up on schedule causing the US to build a backup that's still in storage.

Chinese websites are reporting multiple fireballs, and objects falling in northern Heilongjiang province, near the town of Shuangyang and the the city of Qiqihar (47.55 N, 125.6 E)

[DocM]

So much for quality assurance - killed by a bad bearing.

http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/735724

MOSCOW, June 11. /ITAR-TASS/. The May 16 crash of the Proton space rocket was due to a failed bearing in the steering engine?s turbo pump, the chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Oleg Ostapenko, told ITAR-TASS.

?The final version agrees with the preliminary findings made at the first stage of the inter-departmental probe. Telemetry and analytical information indicate that apparently a bearing in the turbo pump failed. We proceed from this in our further work to identify and localize problems that may occur at the moment of the next launch.?

Asked when another Proton rocket may be launched, Ostapenko said the date remained unclear yet.

?When we are through with the checks, we shall decide on a launch date,? he said.

Carrier rocket Proton-M burns up in dense layers of atmosphere

The Roscosmos chief?s press-secretary Irina Zubareva has said that ?all findings of the inter-departmental inquiry have been submitted to the government already.?

A Proton-M rocket that blasted off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhkstan with an Express-AM4R satellite burned down in the thick layers of the atmosphere. The satellite and the Briz-M booster filed to separate from the rocket. The satellite was lost. Earlier versions blamed the crash on problems in the third stage?s steering engine.

Earlier, a source at the Baikonur space site told TASS a scheduled launch of the Proton-M rocket with the Russian re-broadcasting satellite Luch, due on June 20, was postponed till July 8.

[AMPSV]

OOPs 

[FloatingFatMan]

Someone probably installed it upside down, with a hammer. :p