Cause of Breeze-M Failure Discovered

Final assembly of the Breeze-M at the Khrunichev Center (Credits: Kommersant).

Roscosmos has determined the cause of an underperforming Breeze-M upper stage on December 8 to be a broken turbopump bearing.

The incident occurred when a Proton-M with Breeze-M upper stage launched from Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 8 carrying Gazprom telecommunication satellite Yamal-402, built by Thales Alenia Space. The Breeze-M released the satellite four minutes early due to four shortened burns, ending well short of the intended orbit. Yamal-402 was eventually nudged into the correct highly elliptical orbit by means of its own emergency propellant reserve. The successful maneuver was conducted via four burns that cost the satellite four years of operational life, concluding on December 15. The satellite is now expected to last 11 years.

The Breeze-M C5.98 rocket turbopump assembly in question is said to have been produced by Isaev Khimmash design center, located near Moscow. Khimmash has accepted responsibility, although the bearing itself was purchased from an undisclosed third party.

Final results of the investigation are expected to be officially announced by the end of the year, although Kommersant reports that the announcement has been delayed seven times already because of disagreement among the investigation panel as to appropriate corrective action. In the meantime, Roscosmos is preparing to check all turbopumps that may be affected. This follows just months after all Breeze-M units were inspected as a result of an August 6 failure whose cause was declared to be a “manufacturing defect.” That incident resulted in an orbital debris explosion and loss of communication satellites Telkom-3 and Ekspress-MD2. The investigation into the incident continued for weeks and ended with the announcement of a complete reorganization of the Russian space industry into a model that promises an increased governmental role.