It's probably possible. There are at least two active Proton launch pads at Baikonur, and they are not constrained by range conflicts like the US space programme. I would expect the launches to be spread out, one in the early morning, one in the late evening, but it is probably possible. I would expect the GLONASS launch to use site 81/24, and the Ekspress launch to use 200/39.
Quote from: GW_Simulations on 07/18/2008 11:06 amIt's probably possible. There are at least two active Proton launch pads at Baikonur, and they are not constrained by range conflicts like the US space programme. I would expect the launches to be spread out, one in the early morning, one in the late evening, but it is probably possible. I would expect the GLONASS launch to use site 81/24, and the Ekspress launch to use 200/39.During the years I worked Proton, there was a constraint not to have two vehicles on pad at the same time. You could roll out after the previous Proton launch (though rollout was always choreographed for 06:30). There were different versions as to the reason for the constraint. It was couched as a vehicle safety issue, but realistically there were not the GSE or manpower resources to support pad processing of two Protons at the same time. If you look at the records, I doubt you will find any cases of Proton launches less than three days apart.