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Humans are to blame for the October failure of the Soyuz rocket:
Roscosmos: An assembly error doomed our Soyuz, but we promise it won't happen again
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has completed its investigation into October's Soyuz mishap in record time, pointing the finger of blame at problems during assembly.
Mutterings emitted from the space agency earlier this week suggested that the issue was related to a sensor that detects stage separation of the booster. In yesterday's press conference, Roscosmos provided a few more details and shared a terrifying video[*] showing the moment things went bad for the Soyuz. It then gave the green light for putting a crew back on the thing next month.
The actual explosion was, according to the State Commission tasked with getting to the bottom of the mess, caused by one of the side boosters not separating correctly and striking the rocket core. This led to the depressurisation of a fuel tank and the loss of control of the booster. The problems start at 1:23 in the video.
Of course, the real question is why did the separation fail? The answer, according to Roscosmos, was a failure to open a nozzle at the top of the strap-on booster to vent its tank. This meant the booster did not separate cleanly. The nozzle failure was caused by a faulty contact sensor, which had been "bent" during assembly of the Soyuz at the Baikonur cosmodrome.
[*] [This appears to be the video. --Ed.]
Also at Inverse.
Previously: Soyuz Crew Vehicle Fails Mid-Flight, Astronauts OK
Soyuz Failure Narrowed Down to Collision Between Booster and Core Stage
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:12PM (4 children)
Did they ever reach a concrete conclusion about the drill hole in the hull?
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:19PM (2 children)
I don't think much is known other than this, which I'm sure you've already read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station_maintenance#2018_%E2%80%93_Leak_in_Soyuz_Orbital_Module [wikipedia.org]
The drilling in orbit scenario is ridiculous, so it probably comes down to another Roscosmos human error. Seeing a pattern?
The current incarnation of Roscosmos [wikipedia.org] has only existed since Dec. 28, 2015:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 03 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)
I just can't imagine the thought process of ground assembly crew who accidentally puts a drill hole in the hull... like: it's a small hole, nobody will notice? Maybe they stuck some chewing gum in it that later fell off? How bad could the penalty be for coming forward and reporting an error while still in ground assembly? I can see that rewarding reporting of errors could quickly escalate into a creation of errors on purpose scenario, but... at least rotate out the guy with the unsteady hand and give him something with less prestige but equal pay to do, maybe plus a shot of vodka to steady his nerves.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @09:46PM
That hole did not look accidental, it looked intentional (and as if the drill operator was drunk).
(Score: 3, Funny) by legont on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:22PM
The crew on the failed Soyuz mission was supposed to investigate it.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by legont on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:33PM (6 children)
Let me introduce one.
Russia is in the middle of a pension reform where retirement age is increased from 60 for man and 55 for women to 65 and 60. It is extremely unpopular.
Most workers on the Soyuz assembly line are old as youngsters don't want manual labor especially in the barren lands of Kazakhstan. Also, the reform is probably designed not so much to save money, but to keep the experienced workers who can still do it.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:52PM (5 children)
Here's the problem in graph form:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_population_sex_by_age_(demographic_pyramid)_as_on_jan_01,_2018.png [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @05:36PM (3 children)
All I'm getting from that graph is that there are tons of lonely Russian MILFs and GILFs because all the males have died from too much vodak. Time to emigrate!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 03 2018, @05:52PM (2 children)
GILF's? Guys you'd like to fuck? Go for it. I look at the chart, and during the first half of the 20th century, there were a lot of "surplus" women. Looking at the bottom half of the chart, there are a lot of surplus guys, right now. I don't think the women are any more lonely than they want to be, or in some cases, than they deserve to be. Go on over there, though. If you have a taste for the guys, they are there!
I'm going to buy my defensive radar from Temu, just like Venezuela!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @04:28PM (1 child)
GILFs. That would be "Girls I like to...". What are you thinking about?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 04 2018, @05:23PM
I spelled it out for you. In recent years, there are no "surplus women". If you're going there for the lonely GILF's, then it must be the guys.
I'm going to buy my defensive radar from Temu, just like Venezuela!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @08:40PM
The Yeltsin era really did a number on them...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 03 2018, @05:47PM
There will be future errors. So long as humans are capable of making errors, they will do so. How about something more realistic? "We'll try harder to make sure the same mistake doesn't happen again."
Meanwhile - gotta respect the Russians for moving ahead, and past this problem. NASA maybe wants to reexamine every single bolt and screw and weld on the next vehicle - but Russia plans to go on ahead. YOLO, right? Additionally, you can only die once. Don't sweat the small stuff.
I'm going to buy my defensive radar from Temu, just like Venezuela!