Author Topic: FAILURE: Proton-M launch with Telkom-3 and Ekspress-MD2 - August 6, 2012  (Read 109629 times)

Offline Rocket Science

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I feel bad for our Russian friends. Hope they find the root cause for this ASAP…
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Offline kevin-rf

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Commiserations to our Russian colleagues - this is too bad.

Re the debris risk - low perigee but intermediate apogee, so debris could be around for a few years and passing through ISS and HST altitude regimes....  not as bad as the Arabsat/Briz debris cloud in GTO but not great.

On the plus side, the low orbit means the debris will be trackable so we'll know the scope of the problem if any.

If the burn was only seven seconds, that means most of the fuel is still in the stage, so this "could" evolve very rapidly into a similar debris cloud.

Assuming (based on Kevin Fetter's video) the stage properly separated the payloads, does this mean that the blow down sequence may also have occurred and the stage may have been safed?
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Offline Ben the Space Brit

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This is intreguing.  If borne out, these findings strongly imply that whatever happened to the Briz-M, it's IAU did not either detect or adjust to the engine failure and continued on its pre-programmed sequence.  At the very least, this is a bad thing because it interferes with or even rules out later mitigation efforts, especially with the stack now an apparent collision hazard for several high-value spacecraft.
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Offline Danderman

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So from http://www.ria.ru/science/20120807/718040335.html the first and second Briz-M burns were nominal (as confirmed from TM data) while the third burn did not occur and the stack is orbiting in the intermediate orbit 268 x 5000km x 49.9°

Is there the provision to try to command the burn again (perhaps on a ground override command)?


I am not aware of any Russian upper stage with uplink capability.

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

The obligatory press release from International Launch Services....

Quote
Russian Federal Mission with TELKOM 3 and EXPRESS MD2 Satellites Anomaly
Investigation Underway; Russian State Commission Established

 

On 7 August at 1:32 a.m. local time, a Proton Breeze M vehicle carrying the Express MD2 and Telkom 3 satellites launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Proton M launch vehicle performed nominally, however, the Orbital Unit (OU), comprised of the Breeze M upper stage and the two spacecraft, did not properly reach its transfer orbit and was placed into an off-nominal intermediate orbit. The Aerospace Defense and Roscosmos, are currently monitoring the OU and efforts are now underway to establish contact with the Express MD2 and Telkom 3 satellites.

An investigation into the anomaly began immediately. A Russian State Commission of inquiry has been established and is in the process of determining the reasons for the anomaly.  ILS will release details when data become available. While this was a Russian Federal mission, ILS will form its own Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) in parallel with the Russian State Commission. The FROB will review the commission’s final report and corrective action plan, in accordance with U.S. and Russian government export control regulations.

ILS remains committed to providing reliable, timely launch services for all its customers.  To this end, ILS will work diligently with its partner Khrunichev to return Proton to flight as soon as possible.

Further updates will be provided on the investigation as they become available.

http://www.ilslaunch.com/newsroom/news-releases/russian-federal-mission-telkom-3-and-express-md2-satellites-anomaly

These are the next few launches that could got a large schedule hit from the launch failure:

August 23 - Intelsat 23
September 7 - Luch 5B + Yamal-300K
September 25 - EchoStar 16
October 13 - Satmex 6
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Offline Stan Black

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Do we have any good info pages in English on the two satellites?

And is this a Briz-M five burn profile?

Four burns
http://coopi.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=595
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27791.msg935671#msg935671

Edit by input~2: correct coopi.khrunichev. ru link:http://coopi.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=606

And now the website disappears

Offline Danderman

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Launch time is 19:31 UTC.

Delay was related to problems with Briz-M upper stage.

What kind of problems?

Offline Nicolas PILLET

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Anatoli Zak sent me this screenshot which shows there should have been five burns, not four as the official scheme showed.
Nicolas PILLET
Kosmonavtika : The French site on Russian Space

Offline Danderman

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One note: this launch was intended to inject the payloads directly into GEO, not GTO; that is the only way for 2 payloads to fly on one Proton to GEO, they are launched mostly without prop.

Offline input~2

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USSTRATCOM confirms 4 objects in similar orbit
(epoch: August 7, 1543UTC)
Object A (38744) in 266.5 x 5012.5km x 49.91°
Object B (38745) in 266.3 x 5013.1km x 49.91°
Object C (38746) in 266.8 x 5015.7km x 49.91°
Object D (38747) in 266.7 x 5017.6km x 49.91°

Offline Stan Black

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Anatoli Zak sent me this screenshot which shows there should have been five burns, not four as the official scheme showed.

СобытиеВремя от КП, сек.ВремяUTC
Ключ на старт-30006.08.201219:26:00
КП-120с-12006.08.201219:29:00
Готовность РБ-11306.08.201219:29:07
ОТП-506.08.201219:30:55
Переход Земля - борт-206.08.201219:30:58
Команда на запуск ДУ 1-ой ступени-206.08.201219:30:58
Разрешение регулирования тяги двигателей-206.08.201219:30:58
Прорыв мембраны окислителя ДУ 1-ой ступени-206.08.201219:30:58
Команда выхода ДУ 1-ой ступени на главную ступень тяги006.08.201219:31:00
Контакт подъема006.08.201219:31:00
Переход двигателей на режим F110806.08.201219:32:48
Команда на запуск ДУ 2-ой ступени11506.08.201219:32:55
Прорыв мембраны окислителя ДУ 2-ой ступени11906.08.201219:32:59
Команда на выключение ДУ и отделение 1-й ступени12006.08.201219:33:00
Команда выхода ДУ 2-ой ступени на главную ступень тяги12006.08.201219:33:00
Команда на запуск РД 3-й ступени32406.08.201219:36:24
Главная команда на выключение ДУ 2-ой ступени32606.08.201219:36:26
Отделение 2-й ступени32706.08.201219:36:27
Команда на запуск МД 3-й ступени33006.08.201219:36:30
Команда на сброс ГО34506.08.201219:36:45
Признак cброса ГО34706.08.201219:36:47
Команда на выключение МД 3-й ступени-ПK57006.08.201219:40:30
Выключение МД 3-й ступени-промежуточная ступень57106.08.201219:40:31
Выключение МД 3-й ступени-главная ступень57206.08.201219:40:32
Команда на выключение РД 3-й ступени и отделение ОБ-ГК58206.08.201219:40:42
Конец АУ РН, отделение ОБ58206.08.201219:40:42
Начало поджатия66206.08.201219:42:02
Запуск МД67606.08.201219:42:16
Конец поджатия67806.08.201219:42:18
Выключение МД92206.08.201219:46:22
Начало разворота для ориентации по вектору скорости105006.08.201219:48:30
Начало поджатия402506.08.201220:38:05
Запуск МД404506.08.201220:38:25
Конец поджатия404706.08.201220:38:27
Выключение МД512006.08.201220:56:20
Начало поджатия1251006.08.201222:59:30
Запуск МД1253406.08.201222:59:54
Конец поджатия1253606.08.201222:59:56
Выключение МД1361906.08.201223:17:59
Начало поджатия1369406.08.201223:19:14
Сброс ДТБ1370006.08.201223:19:20
Конец поджатия1370206.08.201223:19:22
Начало поджатия3155207.08.201204:16:52
Запуск МД3156607.08.201204:17:06
Конец поджатия3156807.08.201204:17:08
Выключение МД3235207.08.201204:30:12
Отделение КА Телком-33320007.08.201204:44:20
Начало разворота на отделение проставки3360007.08.201204:51:00
Отделение проставки3420007.08.201205:01:00
Отделение КА Экспресс-МД23500007.08.201205:14:20
Начало увода РБ4228007.08.201207:15:40
Окончание увода РБ4230507.08.201207:16:05
Начало увода РБ4649007.08.201208:25:50
Окончание увода РБ4651507.08.201208:26:15
« Last Edit: 08/07/2012 06:54 pm by Stan Black »

Offline kevin-rf

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USSTRATCOM confirms 4 objects in similar orbit
(epoch: August 7, 1543UTC)
Object A (38744) in 266.5 x 5012.5km x 49.91°
Object B (38745) in 266.3 x 5013.1km x 49.91°
Object C (38746) in 266.8 x 5015.7km x 49.91°
Object D (38747) in 266.7 x 5017.6km x 49.91°

Does anyone know if any of the usual internet pass prediction sites have added the elements yet? I noticed Heavens-above.com and SatFlar.com do not have them up yet.

(as an orbits aside, anyone know a simple program one can enter the raw two lines in for predictions?) I really want to see that satellite train!
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Offline Targeteer

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One note: this launch was intended to inject the payloads directly into GEO, not GTO; that is the only way for 2 payloads to fly on one Proton to GEO, they are launched mostly without prop.


So no chance of using their own fuel/engines to reach a usable orbit...

But do they have enough to DE-ORBIT to eliminate the debris threat?
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline kevin-rf

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If they gain uplink with the payloads, I would assume yes. I would assume the ATP and Briz-M will be around until decay.

Though the decay rate of the Briz-M will tell us how much fuel is still inside and if it poses a serious RUD and Orbital debris shower threat.
If you're happy and you know it,
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Offline input~2

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Anatoli Zak sent me this screenshot which shows there should have been five burns, not four as the official scheme showed.

СобытиеВремя от КП, сек.ВремяUTC
Ключ на старт-30006.08.201219:26:00
КП-120с-12006.08.201219:29:00
Готовность РБ-11306.08.201219:29:07
ОТП-506.08.201219:30:55
Переход Земля - борт-206.08.201219:30:58
Команда на запуск ДУ 1-ой ступени-206.08.201219:30:58
Разрешение регулирования тяги двигателей-206.08.201219:30:58
Прорыв мембраны окислителя ДУ 1-ой ступени-206.08.201219:30:58
Команда выхода ДУ 1-ой ступени на главную ступень тяги006.08.201219:31:00
Контакт подъема006.08.201219:31:00
...
So that's the official scheme with 4 Briz burns.
I am puzzled by Anatoli Zak's screenshot: what are the TM data in the 3rd column, showing time tags for events which didn't occur?? ???

Offline Stan Black

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Anatoli Zak sent me this screenshot which shows there should have been five burns, not four as the official scheme showed.

СобытиеВремя от КП, сек.ВремяUTC
Ключ на старт-30006.08.201219:26:00
КП-120с-12006.08.201219:29:00
Готовность РБ-11306.08.201219:29:07
ОТП-506.08.201219:30:55
Переход Земля - борт-206.08.201219:30:58
Команда на запуск ДУ 1-ой ступени-206.08.201219:30:58
Разрешение регулирования тяги двигателей-206.08.201219:30:58
Прорыв мембраны окислителя ДУ 1-ой ступени-206.08.201219:30:58
Команда выхода ДУ 1-ой ступени на главную ступень тяги006.08.201219:31:00
Контакт подъема006.08.201219:31:00
...
So that's the official scheme with 4 Briz burns.
I am puzzled by Anatoli Zak's screenshot: what are the TM data in the 3rd column, showing time tags for events which didn't occur?? ???

 The details have vanished from the Khrunichev website and what you are seeing is the last actual launch of Proton with SES5. This one was just a bad dream and never happened.
« Last Edit: 08/07/2012 08:26 pm by Stan Black »

Offline input~2

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Thanks Stan, I should have noticed this smoking gun!

Offline Space Pete

*Sigh* I thought this business was all behind us... :(

I predict some more heads will roll.
« Last Edit: 08/07/2012 08:56 pm by Space Pete »
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Offline Beemer

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Not good. :(

Hopefully they find the problem and get it solved for future launches.
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Offline JazzFan

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Would really hate to see this happen with something like the Nauka lab.

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