Russia’s space agency has lost contact with its Express-AM4 satellite...

Russia’s space agency has lost contact with its Express-AM4 satellite following its Thursday launch, and “by all appearances, has failed to reach the target geostationary orbit,” the Russian-owned ITAR-TASS news service reported. Problems with the upper stage of the Proton launch vehicle caused the problems and the “coordinates of the satellite are being ascertained,” ITAR-TASS said. The satellite includes C-, Ku-, Ka- and L-band capabilities and has a total of 63 transponders, said ITAR-TASS. The telecommunications satellite, launched on a Proton-M rocket from Kazakhstan, is hoped to be used for DTV in Russia, the Associated Press reported. The loss of the satellite would slow the planned transition to DTV, it reported. The $264.5 million satellite, built by EADS Astrium, was fully insured by Russian Ingosstrakh insurance company, Reuters reported.