Russian satellites disappear after launch

The Russian Federal Space Agency lost contact with a telecommunications satellite as soon as it was launched yesterday.

The AP reported the Express-AM4 telecommunications satellite launched by Proton-M boosters from Baikonur space airport in Kazakhstan. Russian officials describe Express-AM4 as the strongest telecommunications satellite they have ever built.

The Express-AM4 satellite and Proton-M rocket are included in the launch pad at Baikonur space airport on August 18. (Photo: AP)

The Russian Federal Space Agency said the boosters worked well, but an incident at the Briz-M propulsion device caused them to lose contact with the satellite. Experts are trying to resume contacting it.

Express-AM4 , launched into a geostationary orbit to undertake digital television broadcasts for regions in eastern Russia. Broadcasters claim failure in the Express-AM4 launch could slow the transition from television to digital television.

Many problems have occurred with the Briz-M pusher. The most recent incident occurred in February this year that left a Russian military telecommunications satellite missing.

In December 2010, another technical incident caused three Russian GLONASS-M positioning satellites to disappear. This event left Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency at the time.