FAILURE: Proton-M/DM-03 with 3xGlonass-M - July 2, 2013

[Chris Bergin]

That is terrifying! Thanks for sharing! Is that your video?

No, this video is Evgeniya Popova - https://vk.com/vam_vcem_mimo .

Is-it possible to upload the video ? (proxy at work sucks )

Too bad for russian space industry I saw the lv on May, during its integration in the 92A50/hall 11 building facility

It was.

Check out this post from QG:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31191.msg1069773#msg1069773

Look to the bottom of the post and you'll see numbers and a .mp4 download link.

[Chris Bergin]

So let's see where we are on the facts.

1) No one hurt or killed. That's obviously priority one. Came down near LC 200.

2) We don't know why the rocket failed. Likely engine issue, but nothing concrete or obvious.

3) Waiting for a Roscosmos statement?

4) Waiting for ILS to release a statement, as clearly they will be held back now too.

Anything else?

[Silmfeanor]

The issue about contamination, although I guess that will be in the statements. The hypergolics might require quite the clean up.
I can imagine a statement from a public health ministry or the like from Kazakhstan.

[runaground]

This may have been mentioned upthread (I didn't see it, but I may have overlooked it)...

Current reporting by RT.com quotes an unnamed source "in Russia's space industry" who spoke to RIA Novosti and said that there will be no launches from Baikonur for 2-3 months.

http://rt.com/news/proton-m-rocket-takeoff-crash-514/

So provided that the source is accurate -- obviously it's early, yet -- this would delay at least the ASTRA 2E (20 July) and Progress 52P (27 July) launches, if not also the Amos 4 (5 Sept) launch, yes?

[edkyle99]

Source information: apparently one of the six 1st stage engines went down in the first seconds of the flight.

This is no Falcon 9....

Any all-liquid rocket, including Falcon 9, would fail in this fashion if it suffered an engine failure right off the pad.  SpaceX has unreleased video of one of its rockets doing something similar.

That said, I'm not yet convinced that this was a propulsion failure.  I see six engines burning on a rocket that is suffering some type of control problem.  It is, however, impossible to say for sure based only on the available video.

 - Ed Kyle

[titanmiller]

A much better video:

[PDJennings]

AIUI, the 6 engines each gimbal in one plane only. Is the engine gimbal freedom tangential to the circumference or radial outward-inward?

I wonder if a gimbal failure in one of them, a hard-over condition, is sufficient to overpower all the others' control authority?

At around T+4 s there is a noticeable engine plume deflection to the "right" apparently in the engine nearest to the camera and the vehicle then starts sliding to the left and pitching clockwise as would be consistent with this TVC kick.

I was also thinking there had not been a Stage 1 failure early in flight since Soviet days.

After control was lost, you could see the TVC system presumably responding to commands since the engine plumes didn't stay in a uniform bundle.

The first stage engines do indeed only gimbal in one axis.  There are three pairs, 120 degrees apart.  Gimbal action is in the tangential direction, which additionally allows for roll control.  One possible reason why the vehicle picked up so much roll rate could be that opposite engine pairs were not vectoring properly, or that one engine had a significantly different thrust level from the opposite paired engine.  In that case, vehicle TVC commands for pitch or yaw might produce unintended roll rate as well. 

The video evidence will be helpful for the failure commission to reconstruct events.

[kevin-rf]

I was also thinking there had not been a Stage 1 failure early in flight since Soviet days.

I assume you mean Proton Stage 1 failure...

Sealaunch NSS-8, Sealaunch Intelsat27, and Foton-M1 come to mind

[Downix]

All I keep thinking is "cleanup is going to be a pain, considering the fuel."

[Chris Bergin]

ILS:

INVESTIGATION INTO RUSSIAN FEDERAL PROTON GLONASS
MISSION FAILURE IS UNDERWAY

July 2, 2013-The launch of the Proton M/Block DM-03 mission with three Glonass navigational satellites for the Russian Federal Government resulted in a failure today.  About ten seconds after lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:38 am local time, the rocket veered off of its flight path and returned to earth. 

The Proton booster (Stages 1, 2 and 3) is manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (KhSC). S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation (Energia) is the prime contractor for the Block DM-03 upper stage (Stage 4).

The impact occurred in a safe area that was evacuated for the launch and all personnel are reported to be unharmed. From early reports, there was no damage to either launch Pad 39 or 24, near the impact area; there is only minor damage to nearby buildings.

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has set up a special commission to determine the cause of the failure and telemetry is currently being amassed and processed.

Following the commission’s findings, International Launch Services (ILS) will conduct its own Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB).  The FROB will review the commission’s findings and corrective action plan, in accordance with U.S. and Russian government export control regulations. The FROB will include representatives from ILS customers, insurance underwriters and technical experts from the industry. Further detail will be provided by ILS when it becomes available.

[ClaytonBirchenough]

... NOT GOOD! Proton is pretty reliable rocket too!

[ClaytonBirchenough]

Why no cut-engine command?

[ClaytonBirchenough]

For L2 members, here's a movie on the development of the Proton, and there's the video of almost exactly the same crash happening - except that it was in April 1969: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26935.0

Thanks...

[Silmfeanor]

Why no cut-engine command?

Please read the thread before replying - this has been mentioned several times. before 45 seconds, the thrust termination is not active to prevent damage to the launch pad.

[ugordan]

Why no cut-engine command?

Look up Soyuz Foton-M launch to see the possible pitfalls of just cutting the engine(s) down at first sign of trouble.

[ClaytonBirchenough]

Why no cut-engine command?

Please read the thread before replying - this has been mentioned several times. before 45 seconds, the thrust termination is not active to prevent damage to the launch pad.

Yes, sorry. No cut engine command before 45 seconds would be common sense...

[asmi]

I'm used to Russian U/S failures but this is the first Proton core failure I've seen ever.

If I remember correctly, this is the first failure of Proton LV in many many years.

[Jeff Lerner]

What's involved in cleaning up the contaminated area ??..I understand the fuel is quite deadly but how long does it remain that way??..are there certain protocols in place to deal with this type event ??..how long before the area can be approached ??...hazmat suits required ??...major earth removal required , or does,mother nature simply take over and a good rain or wash down will clean the contamination ??


Oooops, Already addressed here :

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32282.msg1070023#msg1070023

[Star One]

I was shocked to see this, perhaps I am too used to seeing launches going smoothly these days, glad to hear that no one was hurt in the incident.

[edkyle99]

If I remember correctly, this is the first failure of Proton LV in many many years.

Here's my list of Proton failures up to the end of 2012.  The last Proton phase of flight failure was in 2007.  There were several second and third stage failures during the 1990s.  The last failure during the first stage burn may have been in 1982.
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/profail.txt
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/protsum.txt

 - Ed Kyle