From overheating may explode emergency upper stage block "breeze-M", located on the orbit. Upper stage, which was to move into the calculated orbit satellites "Express-MD" and Telkom-3, before the end of the flight program not fulfilled. In tanks of the upper stage was about 10 tons of fuel. It is when heated and can destroy the upper stage, turning it into a cloud of metal fragments.



Such cases have already been in the history of world cosmonautics, stressed the leading scientific employee of Institute of space research Nathan Eismont. Often another space technology in orbit explode third stage of rockets that are in the atmosphere with the remnants of fuel. During normal shutdown upper stage, residual fuel from it travelways. However, if the accident, this does not happen, and can happen, anything that says "Interfax".

The upper stage "breeze-M" provided by the thermal control, but not for the long term. Since manage upper stage block impossible, to create a favorable regime, when the spacecraft rotates substitutes the Sun one or the other side for heating, does not work.

Eismont does not preclude detonation of fuel from overheating or fire flammable fuel in case of leakage of the tank. At what distance from the place of detonation will be scattered fragments, cannot be predicted. Explosion booster threats, fortunately, is not a threat to the security of the ISS, as its orbit far above the trajectory of the emergency unit.

Detonation Russian spacecraft "Express-MD" expert excludes. In electrical rocket engines satellite uses the neutral gas xenon.

Booster "proton-M" with upper block "breeze-M" and two communications satellites "Express-MD" and Telkom-3 was launched from Baikonur on August 6. Booster worked normally. On the put satellites into orbit for four inclusion was to implement the upper stage. But the third turn on "Breeze-M" lasted less than the estimated time. The reason was the failure of fuel into the combustion chamber of a martial propulsion upper stage. Fourth enable upper stage has not happened.

This accident became the latest in a series of accidents and failures with the launches of spacecraft for the last year and a half.