Russian rocket launch fails, destroying advanced satellite

Take Russia's most advanced communications satellite ever made, worth €20m, and strap it on a rocket. Then, watch as it plummets back to earth, disintegrating in a blaze in the atmosphere.

That, unfortunately, was exactly what Russian space officials were looking at last night, as the Proton-M rocket launch failed several minutes after liftoff, destroying the precious cargo.

The Express-AM4R satellite, which was designed to provide internet access to remote regions in Russia, was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It managed to reach the Thermosphere - about half the way to the International Space Station - before the failure.

The rocket's engines failed in the third separation stage, causing an engine shut-down, which meant the rocket never escaped earth's gravity well. Instead, at about 161km above the surface, it began to turn earthward, where the stress of our atmosphere caused irreversible damage.

The appearance of a small, barely perceptible light crossing the rocket's image (approximately 1:20 in the launch video) has led to several conspiracy theories online suggesting the rocket was deliberately shot down - though there is no evidence to support such speculation.

The Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, said it plans two more launches on board the Proton-M rocket this year – but not until the cause of last night's crash was established.

The agency also said the expensive satellite was insured.

The Proton-M rocket has been in service since 2001, with a handful of failed missions. The most recent was in July 2013.