Russia Successfully Launched Proton-M Rocket Carrying a Military Satellite

Russia on 12 November 2013 successfully launched the Proton-M rocket carrying a defense satellite, Raduga-1M from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

It is important to note that Russia restarted the launch of Proton rockets in September 2013 after a small gap in order to check why a Proton rocket launched on 2 July 2013 exploded while taking off. The Proton-M rocket is the most popular rocket of Russia for the commercial satellite launches.

About the Raduga-1M Defense Satellite

• Raduga-1M is primarily a defense satellite of the third generation.
• It is a part of the Stage Two Unified Satellite Telecommunications System.
• It is equipped with the multichannel transponder equipment, which enables it to establish reliable communications with mobile geo-service stations.

What is a Proton-M rocket?

Proton-M rocket is a Russian carrier rocket which is derived from Soviet-developed Proton. Proton is actually an expendable launch system which is used for commercial as well as Russian Government space launches.

Proton-M rocket is built by Khrunichev and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The commercial launches of Proton-M rocket are marketed by International Launch Services (ILS). First Proton-M launch took place on 7 April 2001.

All the Protons are built at the Khrunichev plant in Moscow. These are then transported for the launch to Baikonur Cosmodrome from where they are raised into the vertical position for the purpose of launch.