On May 16, the next scheduled launch of the Proton-M launch vehicle with a spacecraft on board ended in failure. Due to some, not yet established, problems with the operation of some units, the payload was not launched into the calculated orbit. A rocket with a spacecraft burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere. It was argued that some of the debris could have fallen in the Trans-Baikal Territory.
The most common launch of the Proton-M rocket, the purpose of which was to put the Mexican communications satellite MexSat-1 into orbit, ended in failure. To launch this vehicle into geostationary orbit, it was planned to use the Proton-M launch vehicle and the Briz-M upper stage. The MexSat-1 spacecraft was supposed to replenish the satellite constellation providing communications in Central and South America. The MexSat-1 satellite is built on the basis of the Boeing 702HP platform, which is used as the basis for the construction of geostationary communication spacecraft.
Preparations for the launch proceeded in accordance with the planned schedule. So, on the afternoon of May 13, Roskosmos announced the holding of a council of technical managers. The responsible persons heard the reports of the work supervisors, after which they made a decision to take the launch vehicle to the launch pad. The procedure for the removal of the Proton-M rocket to site 200 began on May 14 at 03:30 Moscow time.
The launch of the Proton-M rocket with the Mexican satellite MexSat-1 took place on May 16 at 08:47 MSK. The first few minutes of the rocket flight took place in a normal mode. According to Roskosmos, at the 497th second of the flight, some malfunctions in the operation of the third stage engines appeared. Soon after receiving information about the abnormal operation of the engines, the telemetry transmission stopped. The accident occurred about a minute before the planned moment of separation of the upper stage with the payload.
It soon became clear that the separation of the third stage did not occur and the satellite was probably lost. For the next several hours, experts in the rocket industry worked out the fate of the launch vehicle and its payload, and also tried to establish the consequences of the accident. Literally half an hour after the loss of communication with the missile, the first reports of the accident appeared in the domestic media, including with some technical details. So, RIA Novosti, citing a representative of the space industry, reported that the MexSat-1 satellite is likely to be recognized as lost. In addition, the source said that it was planned to launch this device into an orbit with an altitude of about 36 thousand km, but it did not rise even by one thousand.
On the afternoon of May 16, Roskosmos announced some details of the emergency launch. The approximate time for the termination of the normal operation of the rocket systems, as well as other aspects of the accident, were named. In 497 seconds of flight, the launch vehicle climbed to an altitude of only 161 km. After the termination of the normal operation of the engines, all the elements of the third stage and the payload, falling, burned out in the dense layers of the atmosphere. As of the time of publication of the news, Roskosmos experts have not recorded cases of unburned debris falling.
Possible causes of the accident were not named. It was claimed that the MexSat-1 spacecraft and its launch were insured by the customer. The Russian side, in turn, has insured its liability to third parties in advance. Investigation of the causes of the accident was to be undertaken by a special interdepartmental commission.
According to Roskosmos, all the debris of the third stage of the Proton-M rocket and the Mexican satellite burned up in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, in the morning there were reports of some fragments falling. RIA Novosti, referring to a source in the emergency services, reported the fall of one of the fragments of the destroyed units. At the same time, the fragment fell at a distance from settlements. The place of his fall was not specified. Also on the morning of May 16, there were reports of a possible release of toxic rocket fuel components that were not burned up during the accident or falling debris.
By the evening of May 16, messages were received from Mexico. Communications and Transport Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said that the loss of the MexSat-1 satellite will not affect the operation of communications systems in any way. Satellite systems in Mexico are guaranteed to work. In addition, the minister noted that Mexico, mastering satellite technologies, should be aware of the high risks in this area. Nevertheless, the risks are fully paid off by the benefits from the launch and operation of spacecraft. The satellite and its launch cost Mexico $ 390 million. The apparatus and launch were insured, which will allow the Mexican side to fully reimburse their costs.
The day after the accident, a commission was formed to investigate. The head of Roscosmos Igor Komarov became the chairman of the commission. Deputy Director General of the State Research and Production Center named after V. I. M. V. Khrunicheva Alexander Medvedev. In addition to them, the commission included representatives of Roskosmos, the Ministry of Defense, the Collegium of the Military-Industrial Commission, as well as employees of various organizations in the space industry.
The causes of the accident have not yet been determined. The investigation will take some time, after which the commission will be able to name the prerequisites for the rocket crash. Without waiting for the conclusions of the commission, the public, experts and the press are trying to build their assumptions about the possible reasons for the abnormal operation of the third stage engines.
Due to the scarcity of published information, the public and specialists who do not have access to the investigation materials are unlikely to be able to pinpoint the causes of the accident. For this reason, at the moment, various versions are being expressed, trying to explain the occurrence of the prerequisites for the accident and the course of events at the 497th second of the flight.
The most probable and plausible is the version about any kind of marriage that was allowed during the construction of the launch vehicle. This version is supported by the results of the investigation of previous accidents of missiles of the "Proton" family. So, the reason for the emergency launches on July 3, 2013 and May 16, 2014 were defects in the design of the launch vehicle and improper assembly. In particular, the cause of the 2013 accident was the incorrect fixing of the angular velocity sensors: three of these devices out of six were fixed in the wrong position during the rocket assembly.
It is quite possible that it was some problems in the design of the launch vehicle or its individual components that caused the recent accident. Nevertheless, the final conclusions must be made by the official commission. She will have to study all the available materials and conduct a full investigation. It may take from several weeks to several months to carry out all the necessary work. Roscosmos promises to report on the results of the commission's work separately.
