A Proton rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Photo: ILS

The venerable Russian Proton rocket will resume launches next month if an upcoming engine test firing goes according to plan, officials said Friday.

The so-called Contamination Simulation test will occur in the next two weeks to verify that two Proton launches failed last year because of debris left inside second stage engines during assembly.

Rocket builder Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and engine maker Voronezh Mechanical Plant will perform the engine firing.

Investigators believe poor workmanship more than six years ago doomed the Proton rockets that malfunctioned last July and October. The boosters fell back to Earth, crashing in Kazakhstan.

The suspect engines were manufactured in 1992 or 1993 at the Voronezh Mechanical Plant during a period noted for sloppy work.

According to the Russian failure review board's inquiry into the October 27 mishap, the most likely cause of the botched launch was silica and metal oxide contamination inside the failed second stage engine's gas generator and turbine assembly.

A drawing of the Proton rocket's second stage where the problems started for the July and October failures. Photo: Khrunichev

"The characteristics of these inert particles were such that the nozzles feeding warm, oxidizer-rich gas to the turbine wheel were distressed and eventually burned. The burning resulted in flow path rupture and engine catastrophic failure."

Russian officials have developed plans to prevent similar engine problems in the future including better quality control processes during manufacturing and special examinations of all flight motors. Design changes will be incorporated into new engines when they are built starting later this year.

Pending the outcome of final testing, the Proton should return to flight between February 12 and 15 with the commercial launch of Garuda-1 for Asia Cellular System (ACeS).

Built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, the Garuda-1 satellite will provide voice, facsimile and pager services through hand-held mobile and fixed terminals to Western and Central Asia, Eastern Europe and parts of Northern Africa.

The Garuda launch campaign, which has been on hold since late October, will resume this week.

An artist's concept of the Garuda-1 satellite deployed in space. Photo: Lockheed Martin

The mission will be managed by International Launch Services. ILS is a consortium between the U.S. Lockheed Martin and Russian Khrunichev and Energia aerospace firms that globally markets Proton and Atlas rockets.

"We are satisfied that the work completed by the Khrunichev and ILS teams will allow for the successful return-to-flight of Proton in February," said Adi Adiwoso, CEO and President of ACeS International. "We are excited that the ACeS/Garuda-1 commercial mission will mark the first launch on Proton since last October."

Perhaps a dozen or more Proton rockets could be flown in 2000.

"I believe in the second half of February we will resume Proton launches and we plan to make 12 to 14 launches this year to meet obligations to our clients," Russian space chief Yuri Koptev said at a news conference Friday.

ILS plans to conduct between six and nine launches, each occurring about one month apart. The second ILS mission of 2000 will be for Sirius Satellite Radio, formerly known as CD Radio. Others will include a PanAmSat satellite, at least two spacecraft for GE Americom and launches for the ICO mobile communications network.

An artist's concept of the Zvezda service module docked to the International Space Station (left most module). Photo: NASA

Among the Russian government launches will be the long-await deployment of Zvezda, the next major element of the International Space Station. That launch is now planned for August.

Zvezda is the Russian-built module that will serve as the initial living quarters aboard the station. In addition, its rocket engines will keep the outpost boosted to a safe altitude.

Other Russian launches will include a new Altair data relay satellite that officials want in place before Zvezda can fly, Eutelsat's Sesat communications spacecraft, Glonass navigation satellites and the Express A2 and A3 satellites that are the sistercraft to the one lost in the October failure.