Russian Proton Rocket Failure - MexSat-1

a reply to: Aliensun

Glad you liked it.

a reply to: Aliensun

There is logic in his statement. As I wrote earlier, with every failure, there is a lesson learned. Good education doesn't come cheap.

If I was Russia I would do the same thing to piss off USA. Burn up a Billion dollar satellite...

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: PhloydPhan

it hasn't launched any ISS components since; I hate to be pedantic, but saying that it "services the ISS" is a bit of a push…

Buliding the ISS and servicing it are two different subjects.

Little else is "pushing" astronauts or supplies up there…

There hasn't been a single Proton launch to the ISS since the Zvezda launch in 2000; Proton doesn't launch ISS resupply. Russian Progress resupply vehicles are launched by Soyuz rockets.

As for "little else" doing that job, the ESA's ATV, now retired, had 3 times the cargo capacity of Progress. The Japanese HTV and the American commercial cargo vehicles Dragon (from SpaceX) and Cygnus (Orbital Sciences) are all in Progress' ballpark for payload capacity - Cygnus takes slightly less uphill, Dragon and HTV slightly more.

originally posted by: ratpunk
If I was Russia I would do the same thing to piss off USA. Burn up a Billion dollar satellite...

The American company Boeing is probably relatively happy. If the Mexicans really want/need that satellite enough to order a replacement for it, then that means more money for Boeing.

Plus, I wonder if Mexico does order a replacement, will they still use the Russians to launch it? Or would they use the U.S. or the ESA, as they are for their other two similar communications satellites Boeing made for them (this satellite that was destroyed was the thrid of three satellites Boeing built for Mexico under that contract)? Although I suppose the Russian's insurance company may possibly cover the cost of a new launch if Mexico chooses to use them again.

a reply to: PhloydPhan

There hasn't been a single Proton launch to the ISS since the Zvezda launch in 2000; Proton doesn't launch ISS resupply. Russian Progress resupply vehicles are launched by Soyuz rockets.

Thanks for the correction. So they have two reliable vehicles.


There wouldn't be any need to resupply anyone if the Russians weren't "shuttling" crew back and forth.

a reply to: intrptr

The QC on the soyuz is likley a hell of a lot more stringent.

NASA and ESA likley have there own men working on the QC to help keep it the reliable thing it is.

The soyuz is one tough and tested SOB. I would rather fly on that than the Shuttle.

Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, released their report on this most recent Proton failure on May 29, 2015. An excellent English version written by Anatoly Zak is available on his Russian Space Web site. The report cites the failure of a vernier (steering) engine on the Proton's third stage as the root cause of this May 16, 2015 failure as well as the failure of two other Proton vehicles, one on May 16, 2014 and another on January 18, 1988.

From Russian Space Web:

Medvedev assured that despite very careful examination of the quality control procedures, no violations of the established process had been found this time. According to Medvedev, the telemetry from the mission provided a very clear picture of the accident, while production and testing of the rocket before the flight caused most controversy.

Roskosmos outlined three possible ways to correct this error; a timeline for these corrections was not detailed. The agency hopes to announce the launch date of the next Proton rocket sometime in June.