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


Proton launch anomaly blamed on turbopump bearing
Posted: Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 7:47 AM ET (1247 GMT)
Investigators have blamed a turbopump bearing failure for the premature shutdown of a Proton upper stage in December, International Launch Services (ILS) announced Tuesday. The company said "a combination of adverse conditions", not specified in the release, damaged a bearing in the oxidizer side of the turbopump powering the engine in the Briz-M upper stage. That bearing failed during the fourth engine burn of the upper stage, shutting the engine down several minutes early and leaving the rocket's payload, the Yamal-402 satellite, in a lower-than-planned transfer orbit. Engineers were able to maneuver the spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit using its own thrusters. The completion of the investigation clears the way for the Proton to return to commercial service with the launch of the Satmex 8 satellite in March.
<<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
Tuesday, July 1
Move over Starlink, here comes Kuiper
Gulf News — 4:58 am ET (0858 GMT)
USSF Seeks Industry Ideas For Space-Based Interceptors
Aviation Week — 4:57 am ET (0857 GMT)
Don’t forget about Iran’s space program
POLITICO — 4:54 am ET (0854 GMT)
EU Space Act is ‘orbital equivalent of GDPR’, says lawyer
Luxembourg Times — 4:53 am ET (0853 GMT)
Poland’s second ever astronaut is safe in space
Euro Weekly News — 4:49 am ET (0849 GMT)


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