[10-11-07 – Satellite Today] A damaged pyro firing cable caused the failure of a Proton vehicle carrying the JCSAT-11 satellite in September, the Russian State Commission announced Oct. 11.

JCSAT-11 was lost when the Proton rocket suffered a second stage failure shortly after liftoff, launch provider International Launch Services (ILS) said. The damaged cable, located on the interstage truss, prevented the activation of the pyro bolts that were to have separated the first and second stages of the rocket.  The satellite was slated to provide service to Japan, the Asia-Pacific region and Hawaii via 30 Ku- and 12 C-band transponders.

Members of the ILS Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) began their independent review of the methods, conclusions and corrective action recommendations of the Russian commission Monday.

Fran Slimmer, director of media relations for ILS, said she expects launches to resume as early as mid-November, but she does not have an exact date. The Russian Space Agency has announced that Proton launches will resume with a Glonass satellite mission.

"Proton launches were suspended until the investigation was done,” she said. “We can’t talk return to flight until our FROB is done. The Russian side is saying they’ll return to flight with Glonass, but it’s up to Roscosmos to announce a date because it’s a Russian mission.”

JSAT announced in September that they have contracted with Arianespace for the launch of JCSAT-12 in summer 2009.