5
$\begingroup$

It seems that some "abnormal situation" (нештатная ситуация) happened about a minute before Briz-M upper stage ignition, possibly during third stage separation of the International Launch Services' Centenario / Mexsat 1 mission, launched atop Proton M rocket, and the live webcast was cut about 10 minutes earlier than scheduled without expected report on the third stage separation and Briz M upper stage ignition.

For easier reference, since I likely got some of what I describe above wrong, here's the relevant part of Centenario mission's profile with timeline, ground track, and trajectory:

   enter image description here

So far, not much else seems to be known about it, except what news Russian agencies hurried with minutes after webcast stopped, for example RIA Novosti or TASS. What I'm interested here is whether this launch anomaly has been confirmed, and if that's the case, what are its consequences. In particular, regarding potential orbital debris that such late deployment anomaly could cause.

$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

3
$\begingroup$

We now have (as of 10:25 UTC 16/05/15) a statement from ILS on the anomaly.

The relevant quote:

Khrunichev and International Launch Services (ILS) regret to announce an anomaly during today's Proton mission with the Centenario satellite. The satellite was built for Mexican government’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation, the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) by Boeing Satellite Systems International.

The Proton Breeze M rocket lifted off at 11:47 local time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the Centenario satellite. Preliminary flight information indicates that the anomaly occurred during the operation of the third stage, approximately 490 seconds after liftoff.

A Russian State Commission has begun the process of determining the reasons for the anomaly. ILS will release details when data becomes available.

TASS is also reporting a helicopter being dispatched to investigate reports of falling debris.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You may want to edit in the "final" results blaming an unbalanced third stage turbopump rotor blade... $\endgroup$ May 29, 2015 at 20:48

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.