Dec 03, 2012: Earlier today, the Proton M integrated launch vehicle (ILV) carrying the Yamal 402 spacecraft has been rolled out
from its Integration-and-Test Facility to the Breeze M Fueling Shed for loading the Breeze M’s low pressure tanks with propellants.
Dec 05, 2012: Roll out of the rocket:
Launch problemes:
Engineers blame the December launch failure of a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage on bearing damage from overheated
propellant ingested into the Breeze M main engine, according to a statement issued Thursday by International Launch Services.
The Breeze M upper stage, burning hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, was supposed to fire four times to inject the
Russian Yamal 402 communications satellite in a high-altitude transfer orbit.
But the Breeze M stage prematurely shut down in the fourth burn, and investigators traced the cause of the Dec. 8 mishap to bearing
damage on the oxidizer side of the Breeze M engine turbopump.
ILS said the Breeze M's nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer showed higher than previously recorded propellant temperatures at liftoff
and higher than previously recorded thermal soak-back of engine heat, further raising the temperature of the oxidizer.
At the start of the Breeze M's third burn about three-and-a-half hours after liftoff, a large volume of oxidizer gas accumulated
near the inlet to the main engine, exceeding the engine's design specifications, according to ILS.
The higher than expected temperatures caused the oxidizer to evaporate from liquid to gas.
The Yamal 402 satellite was deployed in the wrong orbit during the Dec. 8 launch, but the spacecraft reached its operational position a few weeks later.
