Preparations for next Proton LV takeoff resumes at Baikonur
BAIKONUR. July 22 (Interfax) - The mounting of the Proton-M launch vehicle has started in assembly tower of pad 92A of Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Together with Briz-M upper stage the LV is to take the U.S. Sirius FM-6 satellite to orbit.
Earlier all operations involving Proton-M space rockets were suspended in the wake of the July 2 crash.
"The resumption of operations involving Proton-M rockets at Baikonur indicates that the investigation has reached the stage of identifying concrete systems responsible for the accident and it is possible to check these systems or replace them without returning the rockets to the Khrunichev Center in Moscow," a source at Baikonur told Interfax.
The resumption of the Proton-M program will become possible after the commission investigating the July 2 crash of a Proton-M launch vehicle completes its work and appropriate measures are taken, Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Deputy Director Alexander Lopatin said earlier.
"I believe that we will finish this work by September. We will do our best to fulfill this year's plan for [Proton] launches, although it will prove quite challenging," he said.
The Khrunichev Center launch schedule compiled before the accident contained the launches of Astra 2E European commercial satellite, Sirius FM-6 U.S. commercial satellite, Raduga-1M Russian military communication satellite, Expess-AM5 Russian communication satellite and Inmarsat 5 F1 U.S. commercial satellite.
Earlier a source at Baikonur said that before the new timetable is drawn "it is highly likely that foreign customers will not want their satellites to be the first ones up after the accident, then the post-accident timetable of launches may be opened by Russia's Raduga-1M."
A Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass-M satellites blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center on July 2. It deviated from the designated flight trajectory almost immediately, began falling apart in mid-air, hit the ground close to the launch site and exploded.
The commission that investigated the crash established that the angular rate meters had been fixed upside down.
