Launch of satellite Astra 2G suspended due to fault
Monitoring Desk: The Russian Space Agency —Федеральное космическое агентство России commonly known Roscosmos confirmed on Wednesday that launch of Proton-M Rocket with Express-AM6 Telecoms Satellite was suspended due to technical problems, reports Russia media.
A new launch date will be announced later.
According to sokesman of Roscomos, fault was found while checking the insertion upper stage [Briz-M] in the command devices therefore rocket was removed from the launch pad.
A new launch date will be announced later.
It may be entioned that carrier rocket Proton-M with the Luch spacecraft onboard has been installed on the launch pad at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhistan.
The Proton-M is built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and is the largest carrier rocket in fleet of Russia of space launch vehicles. Since its first launch in 2001, the rocket has put dozens of Russian and foreign satellites into orbit.
The Astra 2G is a broadcast, VSAT and broadband services satellite that will provide the ability to connect Africa and Europe at a higher bandwidth.
It is pertinent to mention that Russian Proton-M rocket with an advanced satellite on board crashed about nine minutes after lift-off on May 15, 2014.
Roscosmos reported that the launch went abnormal on the 540th second of the flight, when an emergency engines shutdown kicked in in response to the rocket deviating from its intended trajectory, The third stage, which is called Briz-M, was approximately 150km above the ground at that moment and had some 40 seconds to go before deploying its payload into the orbit.
