9 September 2026
Satellite imagery recorded the aftermath of a fire on September 2 at the Russian Proton-PM JSC facility near the city of Perm.
Footage released by the monitoring community Exilenova+ shows extensive damage to one of the plant’s main production buildings, where the fire affected approximately 3,000 square meters.
Proton-PM JSC is one of Russia’s key defense industry enterprises, specializing in the production of liquid-propellant rocket engines.
In 2025, the company launched serial production of RD-191 engines at its new production site in Novye Lyady.
Aftermath of the fire at Proton-PM JSC. Sept. 9, 2026. Source: Exilenova+
The RD-191 liquid-propellant rocket engines were developed for use on the first stages of the Angara family of launch vehicles. The launch vehicles are designed to place a wide range of military and civilian spacecraft into orbit from the Plesetsk and Vostochny cosmodromes.
These launch vehicles could be used to place Russia’s Rassvet communications and broadband internet satellites into orbit if problems arise with the production of Soyuz-2 launch vehicles.
Map showing the Proton-PM plant that produces rocket engines in Perm. September 2026. Photo: Google Maps
It was previously reported that, as a result of a strike on August 15, Ukraine’s Defense Forces significantly damaged the Progress Rocket and Space Center in Samara, Russia, the country’s only enterprise engaged in serial assembly of Soyuz-2 launch vehicles.
Strange, very strange.