A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying what was the country's most advanced and most powerful satellite crashed shortly after launch. The rocket carrying the Express-AM4M satellite crashed somewhere outside the territory of Kazakhstan.
Last May 16, Russia lost what could have been its most powerful satellite in orbit to date. The satellite was mounted onboard a Russian Proton-M rocket that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After just a mere 9 minutes after launching up into the air however, the satellite went down.
"On 16th May 2014 at 01:42 AM msk a Proton M/Breeze M lifted off from Baikonur carrying the Express-AM4R satellite," says the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in a press release. Khrunichev is the Moscow based manufacturer of Russia's Rokot and Proton rockets. Proton rockets are unmanned space delivery systems that are designed to carry valuable cargo such as satellites up into orbit.
"In the process of injection the LV third stage performed off-nominally, and the Express-AM4R satellite was not orbited," Khrunichev says. "A commission of inquiry has been set up, and is currently reviewing the telemetry data to ascertain the cause of the off-nominal situation."
Local Russian news agencies have reported that contact with the rocket was lost 504 seconds after the rocket was launched. While Russian authorities are still investigating the crash, it has been noted that the nose cone of the rocket did not separate during the launch sequence. As of this writing, there are been no reported incidents of death, injuries or damage to properties due to the crash. Moreover, Russian space authorities have also grounded the rest of the country's Proton rockets until the primary cause of the crash can be determined.
The latest crash is considered as the 6th major launch failure of the Proton family of rocket delivery systems during the last three and a half years. Russia has been using Proton rockets since 1965. Despite the 6 known crashes, it is widely considered as one of the most successful orbital delivery systems ever developed. Each and every Proton rocket has been built in Khrunichev's Moscow production facility. After the manufacturing process has been completed, the rockets are then delivered by land to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The last known incident of a crash involving a Proton rocket happened back in July last year. The 2013 crash involved three Glonass navigation system satellites. Like the most recent crash, the 2013 Proton rocket crash also occurred shortly after the rocket was launched into the air.
The Express-AM4R satellite was to be used as an advanced telecommunications satellite. If the launch had been successful, it would have been the third satellite from the Express family of satellites to be sent up into orbit in 2014.
