The recent failure of a Russian rocket to put two satellites into their target orbit was caused by a malfunction in its Briz-M booster, Federal Space Agency Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin confirmed on Thursday.
The failure was caused by a fault in the booster’s fuel pipe, he said, noting it took an interagency commission 10 days to identify the problem.
A commission source earlier said pressure in the Briz-M’s upper stage had fallen sharply following the vehicle’s second engine burn, causing the Proton-M rocket to spin out of control.
Russia launched a Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M booster carrying the Telkom-3 and the Express MD2 satellites last Monday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. However, the booster and the two satellites failed to reach the designated orbit.
Roscosmos has suspended the launches of Proton-M rocket carriers with Briz-M boosters following the incident.
The two satellites were to provide TV broadcast services in Indonesia.
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