Status
Failure
Telkom-3 & Ekspress MD-2
Mon Aug 06, 2012 19:31 UTC
The first two stages functioned correctly. A malfunction occurred on the third stage, but the upper part was placed on an acceptable ballistic trajectory.
The Briz-M was then ignited to perform the orbit insertion. Three other ignitions were planned to place the satellites on a geostationary orbit. During the third ignition, the S5.98M engine stopped working after only 7 seconds. The fourth and last ignition thus failed.
It turns out that the failure of Briz-M was caused by a small breach in one of the UDMH pipes. This component was previously produced by GKNPTs Khrunichev, but in 2011 production was transferred to PO Poliot of Omsk, which has been a subsidiary of Khrunichev for some years.
Apparently, PO Poliot had misunderstood how to produce this component.
Rocket
Mission Details
Telkom-3
In December 2008, JSC Academician M.F. Reshetnev “Information satellite systems” won a tender on IOD Scheme delivery of a geostationary telecommunication satellite system TELKOM 3 for the Indonesian operator PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk.
The project covered a development and in-orbit delivery of a satellite TELKOM 3, creation of augmented ground control segment, training, internship and technical support to the service operator during the satellite operation life. The satellite was built based on the new medium-class platform Ekspress-1000N. It carried 32 C-band transponders and 10 Ku-transponders or equivalent to 49 TPE. The satellite TELKOM 3 mass was 1600 kg, payload power – 5.6 kW, lifetime – 15 years.
The satellite was built for one of the major telecommunication provider of the Asia-Pacific Region - PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. For the tender, the main competitors of the Reshetnev company were well-known companies Orbital Sciences, Thales Alenia Space and Space Systems/Loral.
Ekspress MD-2
Russian Satellite Communications Company has signed in 2006 a contract with Alcatel Alenia Space Italia and Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre to provide telecommunication payloads for Ekspress-MD1 and Ekspress-MD2 satellites.
Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) signed a contract with Alcatel Alenia Space Italia to provide telecommunication payloads for the Ekspress MD-1 and Ekspress MD-2 satellites. The space bus, based on KazSat, was built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre.
Ekspress MD-1 and MD-2 will each be equipped with eight C-band and one L-band transponders, along with a repeater panel and an antenna farm, to provide broadcasting and communications services across Russia and the CIS countries, as well as mobile presidential and governmental communications.