Post date: Aug 07, 2012 2:8:35 PM
BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN (AUGUST 7, 2012) (RU24) - A botched Russian launch junked two multi-million dollar satellites on Tuesday (August 7) that were to provide Indonesia and Russia with telecom services, adding to a series of failures that have dogged the once-pioneering space industry.
Two telecom satellites lost after a botched Russian rocket launch from Baikonur.
Russia's space agency said the failure of the upper stage of the launch atop its workhorse Proton rocket led to the loss of Indonesia's Telekom-3 and Russia's Express MD2 satellites.
The error after takeoff from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan replicates a mishap that scrapped the $265-million Express AM-4 satellite last summer, casting doubt on the reliability of the Russian rocket.
The space agency, Roskosmos, said in a statement that the Briz-M booster had fired its engines on schedule, but they had burned for only seven of the programmed 18 minutes and 5 seconds needed to push the satellites into their planned orbit.
Launches of such Proton rockets will most likely be suspended pending expert analysis of the failure, the Russian industry source said.
Moscow, which carries out some 40 percent of global space launches, is struggling to restore confidence in its industry after a string of mishaps last year, including the failure of a mission to return samples from the Martian moon Phobos.