SES AMERICOM Declares AMC-14 Satellite A Total Loss

[Notebook]

http://www.ses.com/ses/siteSections...sReleases/pressReleaseList/08-04-11/index.php

N.

 

[SiberianTiger]

MOSCOW, April 21, 2008 - The Russian State Commission investigating the AMC-14 failure of a Proton Breeze M launch has traced the cause to the rupture of the gas duct between the gas generator and the propellant pump turbine in the Breeze M main engine.
...
The Russian investigative commission said that the most probable cause of the gas duct rupture was due to the combined effects of duct wall erosion, high temperatures and prolonged low frequency pressure fluctuation in the duct. The Commission recommended corrective actions to comprehensively address each of the contributing factors. Khrunichev, which manufactures both the Proton 3-stage booster and the Breeze M upper stage, was further directed to perform corrective action to improve the reliability of the Breeze M main engine. These corrective actions must be taken before the Breeze M can be returned to flight, according to Russian procedure.

Overall, the Breeze M has flown on Proton 24 times. The engine used in the Breeze M has been used successfully on the Russian Rokot vehicle (Breeze K and KM) and the Soyuz-Fregate launcher.

 

[Notebook]

Thanks for that SiberianTiger, that was a fairly quick report of the failure.

Is the Breeze M restarted in flight, or am I confusing it with another stage?

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Thanks for that SiberianTiger, that was a fairly quick report of the failure.

Is the Breeze M restarted in flight, or am I confusing it with another stage?

Yes, it is the upper stage transferring the satellite into GSO. It would have had to restart at 35000 km altitude again, but failed that burn because of that reason.

A ruptured hot gas duct is a pretty severe failure, good that the engine is not used in manned spacecraft.

 

[Notebook]

That is bad news, I wonder what the

prolonged low frequency pressure fluctuation in the duct

cause is?

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Translates to: Loud noises. Or better: vibrations. Means that the exhaust is not flowing well to the turbine, which means that either the gas generator is not working properly, or the acoustics of gas generator and duct are bad.