Proton-M and three GLONASS failure (2013)
A Proton-M crashed at Baikonur in July 2013 with three navigation satellites, caused by sensors installed upside down.
A proven launcher remains exposed to human manufacturing error, which no statistic of successful flights measures. The 2013 Proton-M failure demonstrates it: angular velocity sensors had been installed upside down, and the guidance system corrected in the wrong direction. For the market, the lesson concerns industrial quality more than design, and it weighed on the pricing of commercial Proton launches. For the state, it raises the question of insuring sovereign satellites, often covered by a national insurer or not at all. The fallout of toxic propellant near the cosmodrome also recalls the risk to third parties on the ground.
On July 2, 2013, a Proton-M carrying three GLONASS-M satellites veered from liftoff and crashed about two kilometers from its Baikonur pad, with no casualties; the investigation commission blamed angular velocity sensors installed upside down. The launcher was insured for 6 billion rubles, about 182 million dollars, with a Russian insurer.
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