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Soyuz failure probe narrows focus on collision at booster separation
Russian investigators believe a malfunction during separation of the Soyuz rocket's four liquid-fueled first stage boosters two minutes after liftoff from Kazakhstan led to an emergency landing of a two-man crew heading for the International Space Station, officials said Friday.
Speaking to reporters Friday in Moscow, veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, head of the Russian space agency's human spaceflight program, said the investigation into Thursday's launch failure has narrowed on a collision between part of the Soyuz rocket's first stage and the launcher's second stage.
Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague were carried away from the failing rocket by an emergency escape system, and they safely landed inside their descent module near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, around 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the launch originated.
The Soyuz first stage is comprised of four boosters, each powered by a four-nozzle kerosene-fueled RD-107A main engine, that burn for 1 minute, 58 seconds, during launch. Once their engine firings are complete, the boosters are supposed to jettison simultaneously at an altitude of roughly 150,000 feet (45 kilometers) to tumble back to Earth. Krikalev said Friday that one of the boosters did not separate from the Soyuz core stage — or second stage — cleanly.
Previously: Soyuz Crew Vehicle Fails Mid-Flight, Astronauts OK
(Score: 2) by corey on Monday October 15 2018, @02:55AM (6 children)
So they're no longer treating it as malicious?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:07AM (3 children)
One thing is for certain. We know that it was the Russians and their meddling!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 15 2018, @03:18AM (1 child)
*Russians and their vodka
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:49AM
Could be worse. If tensions escalate, they might deploy bear cavalry to space to fight the US Space Force!
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday October 15 2018, @07:11AM
The article did specifically bring up collusion (Russians have a history of swapping u's for i's in government documents). I dont know how the various stages can collude, but that doesnt mean Drumph isnt btfo must impeach
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by BK on Monday October 15 2018, @04:11AM (1 child)
Too early for that.
Someone could have maliciously over-tightened a bolt or maliciously loosened a control wire. Or maliciously spilled vodka.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday October 15 2018, @09:10AM
Or maliciously drilled a hole into it [fortune.com].
(Score: 1) by Barenflimski on Monday October 15 2018, @04:07AM (3 children)
The greatest thing about rockets, is when things go wrong, they are described as "ballistic" and "explosive."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @05:30AM
I prefer "safely landed".
(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Monday October 15 2018, @09:13AM
And reactors undergo "power excursions". Yeah, it underwent a power excursion a few days ago but it's back in the office now with no explanation apart from a dozen empty bottles of mezcal and a lucha libre mask.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 15 2018, @02:43PM
Depends on the rocket. Sometimes these are the goals.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 5, Informative) by pTamok on Monday October 15 2018, @09:18AM (1 child)
AFAIK the Soyuz OGB SAS was not used. The timeline of a normal Soyuz launch is here:
RussianSpaceWEb.com: How Soyuz rides into orbit [russianspaceweb.com]
You see that the escape rocket is jettisoned before Stage I separation, so if there is a problem with Stage I separation, the escape rocket cannot be activated as it has already gone.
A video of a successful launch of Soyuz TMA-19M is here: Soyuz TMA-19M successful launch [youtube.com]
The video of the failed launch of Soyuz MS-10 is here: Soyuz MS-10 failed launch [youtube.com]
If you compare the two, you can see starting at about 2 minutes 50 seconds into the successful video, the jettison of the escape rocket (OGB SAS), followed by the Stage 1 separation, showing the classic Korolev cross formed by the jettisoned boosters. In the launch failure, you can see a Korolev cross [wikipedia.org] is not formed. If you hunt about on the Internet, you can find a video of the Korolev cross being formed from the vantage point of the Soyuz looking backwards.
This video starts at the jettison of the escape rocket, which you see as the bright object detaching from the Soyuz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF_9mVUvl3Y [youtube.com] ; followed by the Stage I separation that went wrong.
The full launch sequence of MS-10 is here, without the cutaways to the interior of the crew capsule or pre-rendered animations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5bc3dIn0m4 [youtube.com]
Lift off at 00:20 +/- 1s
Escape rocket jettison at 02:15 +/- 1s (elapsed from lift off approx 115 secs)
Attempted Stage I separation at 02:18 +/- 1s (You see the interruption in the exhaust trail begin to form, followed at least two of the boosters falling away as planned, but it then goes
pear shapedcloud shaped.)The Russian Space Web website goes into detail on the launch failure here: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz-ms-10.html [russianspaceweb.com]
There are more details on the escape system in the article here: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz_sas.html [russianspaceweb.com] - Note that the table incorrectly states the SAS was used for MS-10. The article does, however, explain:
Those rockets are the 'RDG' rockets, not so named, but referred to in the Wikipedia article on Soyuz abort modes. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday October 16 2018, @08:17AM
Nice presentation by an enthusiast, giving a plausible explanation of what happened. Uses beer bottle as a prop.
YouTube: Scott Manley:Soyuz MS-10 Failure - Updates & Answers To Your Questions [youtube.com]
He states the guaranteed lifetime in orbit of the Soyuz is determined by the rate of self-decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide attitude adjustment fuel of the descent module. Others have linked it to how long the tanks/pipes/valves of the various propulsions systems will resist corrosion by their fuels (mainly nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine). Either way, there's a good reason for the use-by date.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 15 2018, @02:16PM
Now if only NASA or the NTSB could conduct investigations that fast.
NTSB: our conclusion is that something went wrong with the plane during flight, but we can assure everyone it has nothing to do with management interference in operations or in cutting costs.
For some odd reason all scientific instruments searching for intelligent life are pointed away from Earth.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @02:30PM (1 child)
If they have to de-crew the station, can Dragon dock?
If Dragon's docking procedure is to fly near and have the arm reach out, grab, and bring it in.
Can that happen if there is no one on board?
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 15 2018, @02:51PM
Perhaps the arm can be controlled from the ground?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh