Yamal 101

Yamal-101 was an intended geostationary communications satellite that was lost after launch. It was built by RSC Energia and operated by Gazprom [Space Systems]. It was, along with Yamal-102 the first communications satellite of the Yamal programme and the first iteration of the USP Bus. It was a satellite with 2200 watts of power on an unpressurized bus. It had eight SPT-70 electric thrusters by OKB Fakel for station keeping. Its payload was 12 C [band (IEEE)|C-band] equivalent transponders supplied by Space Systems/Loral.

History

It was launched successfully with Yamal-102, on 6 September 1999 at 16:36:00 UTC from Baikonur Baikonur [Cosmodrome Site 81|Site 81/23] by a Proton-K / Blok DM-2M directly to geostationary orbit. Due to a failure in the electrical system at solar panel deployment it was lost right after launch.

Rename of Yamal-102

After Yamal-101 failed, Gazprom Space Systems registered Yamal-102 as Yamal-101. This caused significant confusion, but the records are clear that the satellite that failed was the original Yamal-101. Insurance paid US$50 million for the failure.