A Proton-M rocket on the launch pad at Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome on May 14, 2012. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)
A Russian satellite launch went off course and delivered its cargo to the wrong orbit on Sunday, raising questions about the future of one of the space business’ most dependable launch systems.
The mistake occurred after a Proton-M rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday night, carrying Yamal-402, a telecommunications satellite built for Russian energy giant Gazprom. The rocket was intended to lift the satellite into an orbit 35,696 kilometers above the earth, but during its final burn, the upper stage engine shut down four minutes early, and the satellite was released into too low of an orbit.
Gazprom will still be able to use the satellite, since it’s equipped with its own engines and fuel, and will be able to boost itself into a better position. But the maneuver will likely shorten the satellite’s functional lifetime by a significant margin.
It’s an embarrassing failure for Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, compounded by the fact it’s the third Proton-M failure in the last sixteen months; similar launches failed in August 2011 and August 2012.
The manufacturer of the satellite, French company Thales Alenia Space, added to the embarrassment by prematurely issuing a press release stating the rocket had launched successfully, and the satellite was in the right place in orbit.
Russia’s Proton rockets have lifted cargo into space for almost fifty years, a track record that establishes the boosters as one of the most successful technologies in the history of spaceflight. But their recent failures –compounded by several other high-profile mishaps over the last three years– call the future of the vehicle into question.
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