Indonesia’s Telekom-3 and Russia’s Express MD2 satellites were subject to an error after take-off from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, according to Reuters.
The failed launch was similar to the one that scrapped the $265 million Express AM-4 satellite last summer and casts further doubt upon the reliability of the Russian Proton rocket.
Russian space agency Roskosmos said that the Briz-M booster on the rocket had fired its engines on schedule but only burned for seven of the 18 minutes and 5 seconds needed to push the satellites into the correct orbit.
Telekom-3 was built by Russia’s ISS-Reshetnev and utilised communications equipment made by Thales Alenia Space. It had a capacity of 42 active transponders and was designed to cater to Indonesia’s growing satellite business service.
Express MD2 was a made by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre for the Russian Satellite Communications Company.
