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Russia on Thursday announced that the launch of a Soyuz rocket had failed last month because of a damaged sensor during assembly at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, while insisting that the probe would remain reliable.
Russia, the only country capable of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station, has suspended all launches after the fall of a Soviet-designed Soyuz rocket on October 11, just minutes after the coup de sending – the first incident of this type in the history of travel in the post-Soviet space.
Oleg Skorobogatov, the head of the commission who investigated the accident, said the flight had been halted because part of a sensor indicating the separation of the rocket's stages had been damaged during editing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
"The cause of a nonstandard separation" is a "deformation" of a piece during assembly, said Skorobogatov at a press conference under the control of the Russian mission at the 39th. outside Moscow.
The Soyuz rockets are assembled in Baikonur after arriving by train from the Russian Progress factory in the city of Samara in the Volga.
Skorobogatov stated that the deformation caused the servomotor to malfunction during the first stage and struck a fuel tank, which "caused a loss of stabilization" and caused an emergency landing.
He was accompanied by the heads of the Russian space manufacturing plants and research centers who sought to give an optimistic picture of the accident and stressed that constructive measures were being taken to avoid such an incident.
Representatives from NASA and the European Space Agency also attended the rare press conference held at the Korolyov City Mission Control Center, where staff are constantly monitoring the ISS.
"The goal of the event today is for the public to know everything," said moderator Nikolai Sevastyanov of TsNIIMash research institute Roscosmos.
A video recorded by a Soyuz camera and published by the Russian Space Agency showed that the rocket was rapidly changing direction and was turning after one of the four boosters did not separate in sync with the others.
At the launch, Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague made an emergency landing and escaped unharmed.
After the success of the emergency landing, the Russian and American space agencies praised the Soviet – designed rocket. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said last month that US astronauts would continue to use the Soyuz and praise his "resistance".
The Soyuz "remains the most reliable rocket," said Thursday Dmitry Baranov, director of Progress, the manufacturer of aircraft carrier rockets.
– A guilty person –
Skorobogatov, who heads TsNIIMash, a public research institute specializing in the development of space ships and missiles, said the commission had ruled out a manufacturing problem.
"The only place where this could happen was while mounting a rocket in the Baikonur cosmodrome," he said.
Skorobogatov warned that two other rockets – one of which was also in Baikonur – might have assembly problems.
The other was now in Kourou, a French Guiana spaceport that Russia uses for commercial satellite launches, he said.
Russian officials pledged to improve surveillance during the erection of the spacecraft.
"We must draw conclusions from every emergency situation," said Alexander Lopatin, deputy director of Roscosmos, adding that Russia had discussed the results of the investigation with NASA.
"In general, this case will not damage the reputation of our space sector, because we will ensure that these situations do not happen again," he said.
He added that law enforcement authorities would determine the culprit of the assembly mistake.
"Every accident has a name and a last name (of the culprit)," he said, adding that factories in the space industry had been ordered to "reinforce the discipline on the scene working conditions and at the technical level ".
Baronov said the commission had recommended retesting and training the editors in Baikonur.
The Russian Space Agency announced Wednesday that it hopes to launch a new crew for the International Space Station on December 3rd.
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and Anne McClain of NASA will participate in the rocket.
The trio initially took off on December 20, but their trip was postponed after the failed launch of October 11.
am-ma / tm / pma
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Russia tests a key element of a nuclear powered spacecraft
Moscow (Sputnik) 30 Oct 2018
The cooling system, which is the most important element of the Russian space transport and energy unit developed on the basis of a megawatt-class nuclear electric propulsion, has been tested Russia, said Monday documents published on the government website.
"The work is fully completed and the results meet the requirements of the technical specifications," reads the website.
The tests were conducted in conditions as close as possible … read more
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