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Roscosmos Completes Investigation into October Soyuz Failure, Finds Assembly Issue

posted by martyb on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:06PM   
from the would-you-ride-that-now? dept.

takyon writes:

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

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Original Submission

• Re:How about the station leak...Re:How about the station leak... (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:19PM (2 children)

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:19PM (#757272) Journal

  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:

  *SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

  As a result of a series of reliability problems, and proximate to the failure of a July 2013 Proton M launch, a major reorganization of the Russian space industry was undertaken. The United Rocket and Space Corporation was formed as a joint-stock corporation by the government in August 2013 to consolidate the Russian space sector. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said "the failure-prone space sector is so troubled that it needs state supervision to overcome its problems." Three days following the Proton M launch failure, the Russian government had announced that "extremely harsh measures" would be taken "and spell the end of the [Russian] space industry as we know it." Information indicated then that the government intended to reorganize in such a way as to "preserve and enhance the Roscosmos space agency."

  More detailed plans released in October 2013 called for a re-nationalization of the "troubled space industry," with sweeping reforms including a new "unified command structure and reducing redundant capabilities, acts that could lead to tens of thousands of layoffs." According to Rogozin, the Russian space sector employs about 250,000 people, while the United States needs only 70,000 to achieve similar results. He said: "Russian space productivity is eight times lower than America’s, with companies duplicating one another's work and operating at about 40 percent efficiency."

  Under the 2013 plan, Roscosmos was to "act as a federal executive body and contracting authority for programs to be implemented by the industry."

  In 2016, the state agency was dissolved and the Roscosmos brand moved to the state corporation, which had been created in 2013 as the United Rocket and Space Corporation, with the specific mission to renationalize the Russian space sector.

  In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin said "it 'is necessary to drastically improve the quality and reliability of space and launch vehicles' ... to preserve Russia’s increasingly threatened leadership in space."

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  [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

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• Re:How about the station leak...Re:How about the station leak... (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 03 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)

  by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday November 03 2018, @04:20PM (#757311)

  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.

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  🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]

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  • Re:How about the station leak...(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @09:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @09:46PM (#757394)

    That hole did not look accidental, it looked intentional (and as if the drill operator was drunk).

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