Proton M on launch pad before crash Credit: Khrunichev A Russian Proton M satellite launch vehicle crashed shortly after lift off from...
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| Proton M on launch pad before crash Credit: Khrunichev |
The launch went abnormal on the 540th second after the rocket deviated from its intended trajectory, Russian Federal Space Agency said.
According to preliminary analysis of telemetry data, destruction of third stage occurred at an altitude of 160 km at a speed of flight 7 km/s. All the components of rocket and fuel were burned up in the atmosphere.
Express AM4R was built by European EADS Astrium for the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) under the RF Federal Space Program for 2006 – 2015.
The satellite weighing approximately 5775 кg, the satellite was built on the Eurostar 3000 platform. It carried 63 transponeders in С-, Кu-, Ка-, and L- bands and 10 antennas to provide internet access to entire territory of Russia and CIS.
The 3 stage Proton M weighs 702 tonnes on lift off.
Following the crash, launches using Proton series rockets has been halted at Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan until the reason for the crash is determined.
The last failure of Proton rocket occurred on July 2013, when a Proton-M rocket carrying three Russian Glonass navigation satellites crashed shortly after liftoff.
This was the fourth mission of Proton M in 2014, following a successful launch of Kazakhstan’s KazSat-3 telecommunications satellite and Russia’s Loutch-5V relay satellite into orbit on April 28.
