Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after launch

[SajeevJino]

Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after launch​

A Ukrainian-made Zenith-3SL rocket carrying a US-made Intelsat-27 spacecraft has crashed into the ocean seconds after being launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. A search operation is currently underway.

"Approximately 40 seconds after liftoff of the launch of the Intelsat 27 spacecraft, all telemetry was lost indicating a loss of mission," Sea Launch, the company facilitating the launch, announced on their website.

The Odyssey floating platform, owned by Sea Launch, has not been damaged, nor the remote flight control vessel six kilometers from the launch site.

The US Intelsat-27 spacecraft, built by Boeing Satellite Systems, was mounted onto a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle to be lifted off the ocean-based Odyssey platform at the Earth's equator.

Space officials said the likely cause of the crash is an engine shutdown due to an incorrect launch trajectory. "Most likely due to high ocean waves, the rocket took a wrong trajectory right off start, that's where the system began sending auto-commands for a halt," Interfax reported, quoting a source in a space bureau.

Russian vice premier Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter comment that an automatic command to stop the rocket's engines was made 20 seconds into the launch.

The Zenith rocket is joint project between Russian and Ukrainian space companies. The first two stages of the launch vehicle were designed and built in Ukraine, and the third stage is Russian-made. The Intelsat-27 satellite, made by Boeing, was designed to transmit communication signals over the US and Europe.

Sea Launch is an international company founded in 1995 that unites space construction bureaus from Ukraine, Russia, US and Norway. It is a first transnational commercial project for the creation and use of sea-based space launch pads. The Odyssey floating platform is designed for equatorial space launches, where the Earth's rotation is most effectively exploited.

Since 2010, 95 percent of shares of Sea Launch belong to Russian company Energia Overseas Ltd., a subsidiary of Russian rocket and space corporation Energia, which oversees the technical aspects of the projects.

Odyssey has launched a total of 33 rockets. Two of those projects were failures, and one was partially successful. In the latest launch, in April 2012, a similar Zenith-3SL rocket took the Eutelsat W5A satellite into space. Friday's Intelsat-27 mission failure, however, may jeopardize the company's schedule for 2013 launches.


Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after launch (VIDEO) — RT

 

[sayareakd]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

next time use ISRO services.

 

[pmaitra]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

So the rocket was halted 20 seconds after launch. Does that mean the payload fell into the sea and can be recovered for re-launch?

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

INDIA can help the Americans to launch their satellites if they want the help of ISRO........

 

[spikey360]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

So the rocket was halted 20 seconds after launch. Does that mean the payload fell into the sea and can be recovered for re-launch?

Nothing survives so many Gs plunge into the ocean. Nothing.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

BREAKING NEWS: Russian rocket carrying U.S. satellite plunges into Pacific Ocean shortly after launch | Mail Online

Comment following article:

... I'll be the first to say I've not read the "Augustine Committee report", but how is it that NASA - our space agency - cannot send one of our own satellites into orbit ourselves? - Robert Leeland , Las Vegas, United States, 01/2/2013 15:03 -- A law called the "Space Act" (from the mid-2000s, if I recall correctly). It forbids NASA from launching a spacecraft where a commercially-available rocket is available to do the job. Additionally, Intelset-27 was built by a private company and they are free to choose whoever they like to launch their spacecraft. They clearly decided that Sea Launch was a better choice than SpaceX, Orbital Space Corporation or ULA (the American launch firms). This choice was probably made on the grounds of cost and schedule; I think the word that applies here is "schadenfreude".

 

[Apollyon]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

BREAKING NEWS: Russian rocket carrying U.S. satellite plunges into Pacific Ocean shortly after launch | Mail Online

Comment following article:

I'll be the first to say I've not read the "Augustine Committee report", but how is it that NASA - our space agency - cannot send one of our own satellites into orbit ourselves? - Robert Leeland , Las Vegas, United States, 01/2/2013

Why are they bitching ?
Odyssey has a success rate of > 90% and the launch is probably Insurance protected.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

Why are they bitching ?
Odyssey has a success rate of > 90% and the launch is probably Insurance protected.

Yeah, I forgot about the insurance.

Personally, I want to see NASA stay employed.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

A Russian rocket was being used, seems like USA wants to partner with other
space faring nations.

 

[binayak95]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

A Russian rocket was being used, seems like USA wants to partner with other
space faring nations.

All NASA ATLAS V rockets use Russian RD-180 engienes

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

A Russian rocket was being used, seems like USA wants to partner with other
space faring nations.

That is true. I don't know if the policy is a liability to some extent.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Re: Rocket carrying US satellite crashes into Pacific seconds after la

All NASA ATLAS V rockets use Russian RD-180 engienes

Russia-launched satellite plunges into Pacific: official

The Intelsat-27's loss means the giant Boeing aerospace corporation would for now be unable to fit the final piece of a constellation mean to provide TV feeds across Europe and the United States.

"There was an accident during the Zenit rocket launch," a source at the Energia corporation that makes the Zenit-3SL rocket used to lift up Intelsat satellites told AFP.

"The rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean."