The start of the launch vehicle “Proton-M” was rescheduled for January 2017, as the TASS informs.
According to a source in the space industry, another launch shifting is due to detecting rubbish in the steering control engines of the rocket.
“It was detected rubbish in the steering control engines of one of the launch vehicle stages. The engine was produced by the Voronezh Mechanical Plant, where the inspection commission will be sent to. It was decided to replace the engine and its fuel-supply lines, as well as to carry out a full fault detection of the unit”, as the informant said.
It is known that the launch of “Proton-M” was scheduled for December 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. According to experts at the Khrunichev Space Center, the launch was postponed in order to check the launcher’s booster and systems.
The exact new launch date was not yet announced. It is known that the rocket was to be launched as long ago as in early 2016, but since then the start was postponed several times.
The satellite EchoStar-21 is aimed at providing communications across Europe. This vehicle is the sixth one in the EchoStar constellation to be launched with “Proton-M”
