Spaceflight Now Home



The Mission




Rocket: Proton M with Breeze M upper stage
Payload: Inmarsat 4-F3
Date: August 13, 2008
Time: 2246 GMT (6:46 p.m. EDT)
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Satellite feed: TBD




Spaceflight Now +



Subscribe to Spaceflight Now Plus for access to our extensive video collections!
How do I sign up?
Video archive

Jason 2 launch

A ULA Delta 2 rocket launched the Jason 2 oceanography satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 20.

 Full Coverage

Jason 2 preview

The joint American and European satellite project called Jason 2 will monitor global seal levels.

 Mission | Science

STS-124 space shuttle mission coverage

Extensive video collection covering shuttle Discovery's mission to deliver the Japanese Kibo science lab to the station is available in the archives.

 Full Coverage

STS-82: In review

The second servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope was accomplished in Feb. 1997 when the shuttle astronauts replaced a pair of instruments and other internal equipment on the observatory.

 Play

STS-81: In review

The fifth shuttle docking mission to the space station Mir launched astronaut Jerry Linenger to begin his long-duration stay on the complex and brought John Blaha back to Earth.

 Play

Become a subscriber
More video



NewsAlert



Sign up for our NewsAlert service and have the latest news in astronomy and space e-mailed direct to your desktop.

Enter your e-mail address:

Privacy note: your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose.



Redesigned Proton upper stage to fly in mid-August
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: July 1, 2008

Commercial flights of Russia's Proton rocket will resume next month, officials announced Tuesday, following redesign efforts on the booster's upper stage.


A Proton rocket like the one pictured here will carry the Inmarsat 4-F3 satellite in August. Credit: International Launch Services
 
The Breeze M motor failed during its last launch on March 14 when an exhaust gas duct in the main engine ruptured. The stage was in the midst of a lengthy engine firing to propel the AMERICOM 14 satellite payload toward geosynchronous transfer orbit, but the mishap left the commercial communications spacecraft well short of its intended destination.

Russian rocket-maker Khrunichev has spent the subsequent months since the failure analyzing what went wrong and testing a corrective fix for the Breeze M upper stage.

The redesign replaces the faulty duct, which led to the main engine's turbopump shutting down, with a thicker-walled conduit. Khrunichev has finished certification testing of a flight engine with the new conduit, and the new design will be used on all future engines.

"The Khrunichev team, including Khimmash, manufacturer of the Breeze M main engine, demonstrated its commitment to mission success at every level. We are confident that the root cause has been determined and that the corrective actions provide more than enough margin to prevent this from happening again," said Jim Bonner, head of the Failure Review Oversight Board and International Launch Services' chief technical officer.

"In addition to making this change in the engine, Khrunichev has moved forward with its overall quality initiative by completing a detailed quality assurance review, including an independent audit, in support of near-term Proton/Breeze M missions."

An older version of the Proton rocket with the Energia-made Block DM upper stage successfully launched a Russian military satellite last week.

The return to flight for Proton and its redesigned Breeze M stage will be targeted for liftoff August 13 at 6:46 p.m. EDT (2246 GMT), commercial marketer International Launch Services and its payload customer announced Tuesday. The Inmarsat 4-F3 mobile communications spacecraft will be carried aloft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

"Having participated in the Failure Review process in its entirety, I am satisfied that appropriate actions have been taken to deal with recent failures and to reassess the quality of the Proton vehicle," said Gene Jilg, chief technology officer for Inmarsat.

"Inmarsat now expects to transport the satellite to the launch site and complete certain other formalities in sufficient time to target the launch date we have announced."


An artist's concept shows the Inmarsat 4-series satellite in orbit. Credit: EADS Astrium
 
Built in Europe by EADS Astrium, this third craft in a three-satellite series will provide office-like broadband services such as Internet, email, voice and data-relay using laptop and palm-sized terminals.

The sophisticated Inmarsat 4-series satellites transmit over 200 spot beams to deliver strong signals to the small receivers. Each craft has a giant unfurlable antenna reflector stretching 30 by 39 feet.

The new craft are 60 times more powerful and have 20 times more capacity than their predecessors, the Inmarsat 3-series of satellites.

Inmarsat 4-F1 was flown aboard an Atlas 5 rocket in March 2005; and the F2 satellite was lofted in November 2005 by Sea Launch.

Once the F3 spacecraft becomes operational later this year, the next-generation constellation will provide global coverage for users at sea, in the air and on land.

"We thank Inmarsat for its support and patience," said Frank McKenna, president of International Launch Services. "We know how important this satellite is for the continued success of Inmarsat's growing broadband services, and we look forward to the start of the campaign in the coming days."