Proton M Credit: Khrunichev Russian workhorse satellite launch vehicle Proton marked a historic 400th launch on December 15, after the Pr...
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| Proton M Credit: Khrunichev |
The launch was also the 7th space launch done in 2014 by the Proton.
The maiden flight of the Proton-K rocket took place on 16 July 1965.
The updated Proton-M, equipped with the Breeze-M upper stage debuted in 2001 and can deliver a payload of more than 6 tons to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).
Of the 400 launches, 354 were successsful and 46 failed, translating roughly into a 90 percent reliability. Many failures resulted from the Breeze M upper stage being not able to inject the satellite into the correct orbit.
The heavy-lift Proton launch vehicle and the Breeze M upper stage booster are designed and series-produced, by the state owned Khrunichev Space Center.
All Protons are built at the Khrunichev's plant in Moscow, transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, brought to the launch pad horizontally, and raised into vertical position for launch.
The rocket is intended to be retired before 2030, after the new generation under development Angara launch vehicle family takes over.
With a lift off mass of 713 tonnes, Proton is the backbone of Russa’s space transport system. In the last 20 years, the Proton has earned more than $6 billion to the Russian space industry.
It is used to inject payloads to low-earth orbits and escape trajectories for Russian govt and commercial programs.
The Russian-American company, International Launch Services (ILS), has exclusive rights for marketing and commercial operation of the Proton. Since 1996, Proton has flown 86 missions under ILS contracts.
The Proton's lead designer, Vladimir Chelomei, initially designed it as powerful launch vehicle and a high-performance ICBM. Due to its shear size, the ICBM role was later abandoned.
But Proton is nowhere near the Russian Soyuz launchers, which has flown over 1700 times. The production of Soyuz launchers reached a peak of 60 per year in the early 1980s.
The Soyuz rocket is the workhorse of the Russian human spaceflight missions. At present it is the only means of transportion of crews to and from the International Space Station.
