An attempt by Russia to launch a telecommunications satellite of advanced design ended with the destruction of the satellite after its launch rocket failed to attain orbit, crashing just shortly after launch.
Launched from Kazakhastan's Baikonur cosmodrome Friday, the satellite-carrying Proton-M rocket suffered some kind of "emergency situation" that kept it from going into its designated orbit, Russia's Roscosmos federal space agency reported.
The problems became apparent when contact with the rocket was lost 9 minutes into the planned flight, when the rocket's third stage was at an altitude of around 94 miles.
"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," Roscosmos Chief Oleg Ostapenko said.
The launch had been intended to put the satellite into a geostationary orbit, from which it would eventually be raised to its operating location 22,300 miles above the equator.
The satellite broke up, with part of it falling over Siberia and into the Pacific Ocean, Russian media reported.
The $200 million European-built satellite, dubbed Express-AM4R, had been intended to provide broadband Internet access and telephone and television services more affordably to people living in remote regions of Russia.
Built by Airbus Defense and Space, the 12,720-pound satellite carried 10 antennas capable of broadcasting signals to Earth over four communications bands and was intended to provide services over a 15-year mission life.
The Proton-M has suffered five launch failures in 36 attempts since December of 2010, all on Russian federal launch missions.
Launches would be halted and all Proton rockets grounded until an investigation of the recent failure is concluded and corrective recommendations issued, officials said.
The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Moscow manufactures the Proton launch vehicle.
The series of launch failures has focused government scrutiny on quality control systems of Kranich on its suppliers, and the company has said it is expanding inspection programs in it various factories and taking other measures meant to improve the reliability of the Proton.
Despite the failures, overall the Proton's success record in launches matches most leading launch companies around the globe.
