Russia… An Upper Upset + An Express Navigation Annoyance (Launch)

[SatNews] The failure of the Proton-M rocket two weeks ago has now been determined…

A malfunction of the Briz-M upper-stage rocket reportedly caused the failure of a Proton-M rocket launch two weeks ago, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday. On August 18, a Russian Proton-M rocket lost the prized Express-AM4 satellite that was designed to provide digital television and secure government communications for Siberia and the Far East. The satellite was placed in the wrong orbit because of the malfunction of the Briz-M upper-stage rocket, the Roscosmos commission said.

The Russian aerospace industry has faced a series of misfortunes over the last nine months. In December, 2010, a Proton-M booster rocket failed to put three Glonass-M satellites into orbit. The launch of the Rokot booster rocket, carrying a military geodesic satellite Geo-IK-2 ended in failure in February. After the first two mishaps, Roscosmos’s chief, Anatoly Perminov, was forced to resign. One week after the Express-AM4 went off course, a Soyuz-U booster malfunctioned, preventing the Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft from reaching orbit. Its debris landed in Gorny Altai, Russia.

Additionally, if that isn’t enough bad news for the Russian space program, the Russian heavy satellite Express-AM4 lost on Aug. 18th might pose a threat to other space vehicles, local media reported Friday. Citing a source in the space industry, Interfex news agency said the Express-AM4 “will stay on its orbit for years or even for decades.” The Express-AM4 may collide with other telecommunication satellites from Glonass and GPS groups as well as with the Globalstar and Iridium satellites, the source said. However, the source stressed the lost satellite posed no danger to the International Space Station (ISS) as it had been placed on a higher orbit with the minimum distance from the Earth of 696 km.

Russia’s space monitoring system, a subdivision of the Space Forces, is working with the U.S. United Space Operations Center to locate the Express-AM4 positions before further launches of new space vehicles, the source said. Russian Space Forces have little hope of regaining control of the Express-AM4 because its batteries were discharged soon after it separated from its booster, the source said.