Khrunichev, ILS Officials Detail Quality plans - Page 1 of 2

[Satellite News – 5-23-08] Khrunichev Space Center and International Launch Services (ILS) have initiated a quality initiative for Khrunichev and its subcontractors to assure future Proton customers that their satellites will reach orbit.

Khrunichev manufactures Russia’s Proton rocket, and ILS market the vehicles for commercial use. Two ILS Proton missions have suffered failures since September. The latest failure in March left SES Americom’s AMC-14 satellite short of its intended orbit, but the quality initiative is not directly related to the mission, Vladimir Nesterov, Khrunichev general director, and Frank McKenna, president of ILS, said.

    “Both Khrunichev and ILS realized that steps needed to be taken. The Khrunichev quality initiative is intended to restore customer confidence that Proton is a reliable product for the long run,” said McKenna.
    “We are putting in place a comprehensive program which is viewed as part of [Khrunichev’s] strategy going forward,” said Nesterov. “We consider the quality initiative yet another step towards solidifying our role as a leading space company. Our quality initiative is not an ad-hoc measure. While we are taking these steps, the Khrunichev Center has always made it a priority to concentrate on processes to ensure quality and guaranteed performance of contractual obligations.”
    The two launch executives spoke with Satellite News via e-mail to discuss the quality initiative and the future for the Proton rocket.

Vladimir Nesterov, General Director, Khrunichev (Left);
Frank McKenna, President, ILS (Right)

Satellite News: How will the initiative help prevent other failures?

McKenna: The plan is to look at the total picture — the management, production and design systems and processes in all the suppliers. Then these systems and processes would be unified into a single set of standards, forming the company-wide quality management system.

Nesterov: As you may know, since February of last year four of the industry’s leading space entities were merged with the Khrunichev Center. In its new configuration, [Khrunichev] now controls the fabrication of the most important and critical elements of Proton production — more than 65 percent. We are implementing common standards throughout the supplier chain thereby creating a unified quality management system to be complied with across the board at the center. I am confident that all these efforts will lead to more robust reliability.