spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


Proton failure blamed on programming error
Posted: Wed, Aug 31, 2011, 7:56 PM ET (2356 GMT)
Proton-M launch of Express-AM4 (Roscosmos) The loss of a communications satellite launched on a Proton rocket earlier this month has been blamed on a programming error in the guidance system of the rocket's upper stage, Russian officials said Tuesday. The Express-AM4 satellite was stranded in a transfer orbit when its Breeze-M upper stage failed to complete a series of five engine burns. The Russian space agency Roskosmos announced that investigators traced the failure to a guidance error in the upper stage that put it into the wrong orientation and thus injected the satellite into an "off-design" orbit. Russian officials have lifted the ban on Proton launches with "appropriate recommendations" to prevent the problem from happening again. The Express-AM4 satellite has been declared a total loss, though, since it cannot be moved to geosynchronous orbit. The Proton/Breeze-M failure is not related to last week's failed launch of a Progress spacecraft on a Soyuz rocket; that failure was in the gas generator in the rocket's upper stage, although investigators have yet to find the specific cause of the failure.
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief
Starship explodes during preparations for static-fire test
Posted: Sun, Jun 22 6:52 AM ET (1052 GMT)

French government leads investment in Eutelsat
Posted: Sat, Jun 21 8:38 AM ET (1238 GMT)

NASA further delays Ax-4 launch
Posted: Sat, Jun 21 8:34 AM ET (1234 GMT)

news links
Wednesday, July 2
Starlink’s Wi-Fi Is Faster in the Air Than on the Ground
CNET News.com — 6:04 am ET (1004 GMT)
Elon Musk’s Starlink now in Sri Lanka
Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) — 6:03 am ET (1003 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list