Launch News Failure: Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat-M with Meteor-M № 2-1(0541 GMT Nov. 28, 2017)

[Nicholas Kang]

A Soyuz-2-1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage to launch the Meteor-M No. 2-1 remote-sensing satellite from the Soyuz launch complex in Vostochny. The mission will also carry 18 secondary payloads including Baumanets-2, Scout, SEAM, AISSat-3, CubeBel-1, multiple Dove Flock-2, Lemur-2 and Lemur-3 satellites.

"The assembly of the payload section for the mission was completed on November 20 with the encapsulation of the Fregat stage and the satellites under their payload fairing. The transfer of the payload section to the vehicle assembly building for integration with the Soyuz-2-1b rocket was made on November 21, the assembly of the launch vehicle was completed on November 23, Roskosmos said. The rollout of the Soyuz-2-1b rocket to the launch pad is scheduled for November 25."

The satellite is integrated with the Fregat upper stage.

As of the end of 2009, the launch was promised in 2012, however by that year, the launch slipped to 2016. It was later postponed to 2017. The launch campaign began in Vostochny with the delivery of the Meteor-M No. 2-1 satellite on Oct. 11, 2017. The rocket for the mission arrived to Vostochny's Ledyanaya train station on Oct. 28, 2017. It was then delivered to the processing complex, where the assembly of the four boosters of the first stage and the core booster of the second stage into a single vehicle was completed on Nov. 8, 2017. On the same day, the assembly of the payload section with the Fregat upper stage had been scheduled to begin after November 14.

The Meteor M No. 2-1 satellite and secondary payloads were undergoing processing at the time and the propellant components were being delivered to the launch site. Also, the Fregat stage was being fueled. On November 17, specialists completed the integration of the spacecraft with the upper stage. All electric tests and trial deployment of extendable structures and solar panels had also been completed.

The assembly of the payload section for the mission was completed on November 20 with the encapsulation of the Fregat stage and the satellites under their payload fairing. The transfer of the payload section to the vehicle assembly building for integration with the Soyuz-2-1b rocket was scheduled for November 21, allowing to complete the assembly of the launch vehicle on November 24.

Launch Timeline:

All times in GMT.

Time | Events
05:41:46|Liftoff
05:43:44|1st stage separation
05:45:33|Fairing separation
05:46:33|2nd stage separation
05:51:09|3rd stage separation
05:52:09|05:53:26 - Fregat 1st burn
06:40:10 - 06:41:07|Fregat 2nd burn for entering target orbit for Meteor-M2-1
06:42:08|Meteor-M2-1 separation (planned orbit i = 98.57 °, H = 828.7 km, h = 788.9 km)
07:21:01 - 07:21:24|Fregat 3rd burn
08:01:43 - 08:05:03|IDEA OSG-1 separation (planned orbit i = 97.95 °, H = 814.2 km, h = 581.6 km)
08:13:21 - 08:13:37|Fregat 4th burn
08:15:17|Baumanets-2 separation (planned orbit i = 97.76 °, H = 600.1 km, h = 592.7 km)
08:20:00 - 08:35:00|SEAM, AISSat-3, 2xCorvus-BC, D-Star One & 10x Lemur separation (planned orbit i = 97.76 °, H = 601.8 km, h = 583.9 km)
08:59:21 - 08:59:44|Fregat 5th burn
09:50:01 - 09:50:46|Fregat 6th burn for entering target orbit for Telesat LEO Vantage 2
09:54:06|Telesat LEO Vantage 2 separation (planned orbit i = 99.46 °, H = 1002.2 km, h = 996.8 km)
10:42:41 - 10:43:19|Fregat 7th burn for de-orbiting
~11:16:57|Entry Interface of Fregat de-orbit over Pacific Ocean

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Failed to entered correct orbit! Possible lost of all satellites!

Russian source: http://www.interfax.ru/world/589352

NASAspaceflight.com:

The Fregat Upper Stage suffered an apparent failure which will have resulted in the loss of all the satellites.

The mission apparently failed, with Russian news agency Interfax claiming the preliminary analysis points to “human error” in relation to the Fregat-M Upper Stage, which resulted in one of the early burns sending the payload stack into the ocean.

Spacenews.com:

WASHINGTON — Controllers have been unable to contact a weather satellite launched on a Soyuz rocket from the country’s new spaceport Nov. 28, raising fears of a launch failure.

The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East at 12:41 a.m. Eastern. Its primary payload was the Meteor-M No.2-1 polar-orbiting weather satellite, with 18 small satellites flying as secondary payloads.

The launch initially appeared to go as planned, but the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said in a statement several hours after launch that it was unable to contact the Meteor-M satellite. “However, during the first planned communication session with the spacecraft, it was not possible to establish a connection due to its absence in the target orbit,” Roscosmos said in a translation of a Russian-language statement.

That lack of contact has raised concerns that the satellites failed to reach the proper orbit, or may not be in orbit at all. A report by the Russian news service Interfax, citing a Russian industry source, claimed that the Fregat upper stage was in the wrong orientation during its initial burn, sending the stage and its satellite payload into the Atlantic Ocean. That report has not been confirmed by Roscosmos.

Launch video:

 

[Artlav]

Damn. I was waiting for that sat.
It's a nice and amateur-friendly Earth imaging satellite.

That's the sort of pictures you can pull from the one currently in orbit, and the new one was supposed to be even better...

 

[boogabooga]

Not the kind of start to Vostochny that they were hoping for...