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Second stage of Russian Proton rocket malfunctions

by William Atkins

Saturday, 08 September 2007

On Thursday, September 6, 2006, the Russians launched its Proton M rocket with a Japanese JCSAT 11 communications spacecraft as its payload. Unfortunately, its second stage did not ignite, and the rocket and payload fell back to Earth and was destroyed.

At about 2243 GMT (6:43 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), ground controllers at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan launched the Proton M rocket from launch pad 39. The launch vehicle had four stages that would eventually take the spacecraft to a geosynchronous transfer orbit, which is a temporary orbit before the satellite is inserted into a 22,300-mile (36,000-kilometer) geosynchronous orbit (GEO)—an orbit that places the satellite above the same fixed location on the Earth at the same time each day.

However, after the six engines of the first stage burned out, the four engines on the second stage rocket did not ignite.

Without the second stage, the payload returned to Earth and crashed in the countryside near the city of Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan—reportedly making a 65-foot (20 meter) deep crater into the ground, along with spewing debris around the impact site.

This was the 327th flight of the Russian Proton (formal designation: UR-500) launch vehicle, a series of rockets that have been lifting payloads into space for over four decades—since 1965. The Proton rockets are manufactured at the Khrunichev plant in Moscow, Russia. They are then transported to the Cosmodrome, horizontally placed on the launch pad, and then raised into its final vertical position for launch.

The commercial payloads, such as the Japanese JCSAT 11 communications satellite, placed on the Proton rockets are primarily managed by U.S.-Russian International Launch Services.
Kazakhstan officials are now accusing Russian officials of not ensuring the safety of its people surrounding the launch site. No one was killed or injured in the blast but the potential for a deadly incident was apparent from the impact crater and the resulting fragments of the destroyed rocket and satellite.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the launch took place, is located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of the Aral Sea near the town of Tyuratam. Russia leases the property from the Kazakh government, and it is managed by the Russian Federal Space Agency. The complex supports launches of various manned and unmanned Russian spacecraft, such as Soyuz, Proton, and others.

The government of Kazakhastan has stopped further launches of the Russian Proton rocket until a formal investigation is completed.

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