Baku, Azerbaijan, May 16
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
An accident with a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket which was launched from Kazakh Baikonur Cosmodrome poses no threat to Kazakh ecology, Novosti-Kazakhstan referring to Kazakh Space Agency.
"Since the accident occurred at an altitude of about 150 kilometers, and the main part of the rocket burned in the upper atmosphere and, moreover, outside of Kazakhstan's territory, it will not affect Kazakhstan or especially its environment," representative of Kazakh National Space Agency told the agency.
The source noted that this accident greatly differs from the crash of another Proton on July 2, 2013 one minute after take-off, when its toxic fuel spilled over Kazakhstan's territory. The Emergency Commission investigating the incident concluded that the incident was provoked by incorrectly installed angular rate sensors that time. That accident was followed by a number of protests across Kazakhstan urging use of ecological fuel at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Astana sent an $89 million bill to Moscow for the environmental damage. Russia did not agree with the sum and decided to conduct its own expert evaluation of the damage.
The carrier rocket Proton-M, which was launched on May 16 from Baikonur together with the communications satellite Express-AM4R, has burnt up in the dense layers of the atmosphere.
Chief of Russian Space Agency Oleg Ostapenko said that no parts of the rocket, the upper stage or the satellite reached the Earth, according to preliminary information.