ILS Offers Proton Variants For Smaller Payloads, ILS “International Launch Services (ILS) announces a product line extension of the Proton Breeze M commercial launch vehicle designed to expand the addressable GEO market for cost effective launch solutions in the small and medium satellite class range (3 to 5 metric tons). Designated as “Proton Variants,” these two additional vehicles will be optimized 2-stage versions of the time tested and flight proven […]

Progress M-27M Failure Caused by “Design Peculiarity”, Space Policy Online ‘Russia’s space agency Roscosmos today revealed the results of its investigation into the April 28, 2015 Progress M-27M cargo ship launch failure. A “design peculiarity” related to frequency-dynamic characteristics between the Soyuz-2.1a rocket’s third stage and the Progress spacecraft was to blame, it said.” Proton-M Failure Due to Same Design Flaw that Doomed 1988 Mission, Space Policy Online “Russian authorities […]

Much at Stake for Proton, Antares as September 15 Nears, Space Policy Online “Purely by coincidence, if all goes according to plan September 15 will be a big day for a venerable Russian rocket recovering from a recent spectacular failure as well as a new U.S. rocket that is powered by Russian engines. A lot is at stake for both. … A successful Proton launch could help restore confidence in […]

What’s Happening to the Russian Space Industry?, Commercial Space Watch “On the morning of August 6, the Russian space industry woke up to yet another failure in a long list of failures over the last 2 years. 2 months later, on October 16th that failure became a catastrophe with the explosion of the Briz-M upperstage. Are we witness to the end of the dominance of the Russian space industry?” Marc’s […]

ILS Announces Proton Launch Delay of SES-4 Satellite “ILS has informed SES that the launch of the Proton launch vehicle with the SES-4 satellite was postponed for approximately 25 days for technical reasons with the avionics system of the launch vehicle’s Breeze M upper stage. The additional time is needed due to the destacking and replacement of the affected avionics unit. The satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral.” Powerful communications […]

Russian space officials fired over satellite crash, Reuters “The GLONASS satellites, intended for Russia’s rival to the American GPS system, a project dear to the Kremlin, were lost because the Proton M rocket carrying them into orbit was loaded with too much fuel, a investigating commission found.” Russia’s first GLONASS phone an ‘iPhone 4 competitor,’ except not really (video), Engadget “As the story goes, Russia-based AFK Sistema’s subsidiary Sitronics (along […]