[and of course I totaly forgot to record this launch :-( ]
PROTON FAILS JUST AFTER LIFTOFF
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: September 5, 2007
Two minutes after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
tonight, a Russian heavy-lifting Proton rocket suffered a malfunction of
its second stage, leading to apparent destruction of a Japanese
satellite payload riding aboard the booster.
The 18-story Proton M rocket soared away from pad 39 at 6:43 p.m. EDT
(2243 GMT), marking an on-time start for a planned seven-hour ascent to
geosynchronous transfer orbit for the four-stage launcher.
The six hydrazine-fueled first stage engines propelled the Proton into a
clear, predawn sky over the desert steppes of Central Asia. Riding its
fiery tail of super-heated exhaust, the vehicle arced downrange with
normalcy.
As the first stage was nearing the time its engines would deplete their
fuel reserves and snuff out, the four engines on the second stage were
supposed to ignite, revving to full throttle at the same time as the
spent lower stage would drop away.
The staging event, when visible by ground tracking cameras, always
provides a dramatic spectacle in the sky with streaks of smoke as the
first stage is blasted away.
But tonight something didn't seem quite right.
"I just got word from the launch site in Baikonur that we experienced a
problem with the second stage engines. Apparently they did not ignite,"
said Greg Gilmore, senior director of marketing and sales for
International Launch Services.
"Therefore we are now faced with an anomaly that we must go and find out
more about. Unfortunately for our customers and everybody involved, we
appear as though we've had a problem with the second stage engines,
which didn't ignite."
Without a successful ignition of the second stage, the rocket was dealt
a helpless scenario of plummeting back to Earth. An impact area for the
vehicle was not immediately reported.
ILS is the U.S.-based firm that markets Proton rockets to commercial
customers. Tonight was the 42nd Proton flight for ILS dating back to
1996 and the fourth to end in failure. The earlier mishaps in 1997, 2002
and 2006 were caused by problems with the upper stage motors.
Proton's lower stages had enjoyed a faultless track record for nearly
eight years, until tonight. The most recent trouble -- also affecting
the second stage -- downed a pair of Russian government launches in July
and October 1999. Those failures were traced to poor workmanship and
debris in the engines.
Destroyed in tonight's launch accident was the JCSAT 11 communications
spacecraft, the first commercial Japanese satellite to ever fly on Proton.
Russia's workhorse Proton was making its 327th flight. Developed more
than four decades ago, the heavy-duty rocket has lofted scores of
satellites, interplanetary spacecraft and pieces of orbiting space
stations, including the International Space Station's initial control
and living quarters modules -- Zarya and Zvezda.
The JCSAT 11 spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, was headed for
geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. JSAT Corp. of Tokyo
would have operated the satellite to provide telecommunications services
to Japan, the Asia-Pacific region and Hawaii.
The 8,800-pound craft was fitted with 30 Ku-band and a dozen C-band
transponders. It had an anticipated service life of 15 years.
JSAT planned to use the satellite as an in-space backup to the company's
fleet of eight older spacecraft.
ILS promises a full investigation into the failure.
We'll update this story as more information becomes available.
--
Dishnut-P
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