Proton-M/DM-03 - Elektro-L № 4 - Baikonur 81/24 - 5 February 2023 (09:12 UTC)

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1622162196900741121

Staging 1-2 (Hot staging).

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1622163352372781057

Staging 2-3 and fairing sep.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Back to the launchpad.

Back to the studio (with baby!).

Nice Proton launch compilation.

[Steven Pietrobon]

End of webcast.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1622168548159242242

Roscosmos with a tribute to Proton-M, which is nearing retirement.

[B. Hendrickx]

Insider on the NK forum says the Blok-D orbit insertion burn went as planned.

[B. Hendrickx]

Good second Blok-D burn reported, placing Elektro into a geostationary transfer orbit. Circularization burn expected at 15.40 UTC.

[Svetoslav]

Nominal Spacecraft separation, launch declared a success:

https://t.me/roscosmos_gk/8319

[B. Hendrickx]

Roscosmos says that Elektro-L N°4 will be stationed at 165.8°E. It will join two other operational Elektro-L satellites, N°2 (launched in December 2015 and stationed at 14.5°W) and N°3 (launched in December 2019 and stationed at 76°E). The first Elektro-L satellite, orbited in January 2011, is no longer operational.

[Vahe231991]

12 Protons left, including this one.

Since Elektro-L No.4 was just launched today, there are now four Proton-Ms waiting to be launched to which specific payloads have been assigned. Whether the other seven Proton-Ms that Roscosmos mentioned will have payloads assigned to them remains to be seen, considering that Roscosmos has said before that the Proton-M will be retired before 2030.

[Blackhavvk]

12 Protons left, including this one.

Since Elektro-L No.4 was just launched today, there are now four Proton-Ms waiting to be launched to which specific payloads have been assigned. Whether the other seven Proton-Ms that Roscosmos mentioned will have payloads assigned to them remains to be seen, considering that Roscosmos has said before that the Proton-M will be retired before 2030.

Well, there are actually not 4 of them. But we can only look. There are several options.

[russianhalo117]

12 Protons left, including this one.

Since Elektro-L No.4 was just launched today, there are now four Proton-Ms waiting to be launched to which specific payloads have been assigned. Whether the other seven Proton-Ms that Roscosmos mentioned will have payloads assigned to them remains to be seen, considering that Roscosmos has said before that the Proton-M will be retired before 2030.

NLT 2030 is the soft target NOT a hard deadline. Some slip is allowed Proton-M has to cover its replacements until they are reliable and have enough successful flights under their belts to satisfy insurance and customers. Angara-A3, A5, A3M A5M, A3V, A5V, A5P, crew rated A5M fka A5PM are replacing crew rated Zenit family, Soyuz-2-1A, B, Proton-M and Zenit family, Proton-M middle to upper payload ranges and Soyuz-5, 6, 7 are replacing crew rated Zenit family, Soyuz-2-1A, B, Proton-M and Zenit family, Proton-M lower to middle payload ranges.

Any further discussion of this should move out of this mission thread to a relevant Proton thread.

[Nicolas PILLET]

I had understood that Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement according to which Proton-M launches will be banned after 2025. And this is a (very) hard deadline.

[Blackhavvk]

I had understood that Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement according to which Proton-M launches will be banned after 2025. And this is a (very) hard deadline.

There is information about the possibility of launches after 2025.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

For the record, Nicolas Pillet has the launch using Proton-M 8K82KM #935-68 and Blok DM-03 11S861-03 #7L.

[owais.usmani]

On rocket camera views! 

First time ever for a Proton?

[owais.usmani]

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1634474061895028736

[eeergo]

The Elektro constellation in GEO is now operational:

https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/1663508216347590658