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Russian Space Agency Determines Cause of Soyuz Crash
An anonymous reader writes "The online version of the San Francisco Chronicle reports the cause of the loss of a Soyuz rocket in August. The Russian Space Agency, ROSCOSMOS says a manufacturing flaw led to the failure of a gas generator."
That jet full of Russian hockey players was probably taken down by the same shoddy workmanship that doomed the Soyuze.
If I had only known, I could have sent my univ room mate for a few days.
This is not an accident that there is a flaw in manufacturing procedure, it's the reality of current Russian political arena, where nobody really gives a s..t about anything and the only important question is - how do I make more money now?
In fact it is better and faster news than many people feared. It suggests a by-the-numbers path to return the Soyuz to service. In turn, this dramatically lowers the risk that we will need to evacuate the ISS and suffer any negative consequences associated with that.
(We now return you to this thread's excessively random spew.)
That was not Soyuz, it was Progress - space truck.
was the real problem
http://www.awfullybigmoustache.com
A Progress was the payload. The rocket is called Soyuz. (As are the payloads that carry humans.)
We were surely not drinking too much when we launched the rocket and drank half the rocket fuel.
In Soviet Russia the gas generates you! But seriously folks, 1 week is not long enough for a credible inquiry. At least not when the results put American lives at stake. Hard to see how this gets past NASA. But this is the level of engineering you get when spaceflight goes to the cheapest bidder. How do you all like newspace now?
an ill wind that blows no good
Quick, extrapolate wildly and invoke fantasy-levels of technology! Also predict doom and gloom for the human race in the form of mysterious asteroids that will destrooooooooy us! We also need a few "get off this ROCK!" and "get our asses to Mars!". There is entirely too little mental illness in this thread so far.
Was sure this fault of Moose or Squirrel... Must now carve new gas generator!
Space Failures Raise Uneasy Questions - The Russian Space Industry starved after the fall of the USSR. The workforce aged and retired and there was a lack of new hires due to non-competitive pay scales with industry. Now the agency faces a lack of skilled workers that will only worsen as corruption has devoured all capital investments. New engineers and technicians take years to become proficient, it's not like working at you're local 7-11 as some folks seem to think.
You can draw a direct parallel to the US human spaceflight program. Now that the shuttle program has ended the majority of laid-off contract workers (i.e. USA, BOEING, Rockwell) are dispersing out of Brevard County - Florida to other aerospace jobs across the United States. Any future US manned space program will spend much treasure and likely a few lives to restore the talent that was let go, APOLLO all over again.
Hello. This is Russian Space Agency. My Name Peggy. You Have Problem With Our Rocket?
In the second link it says that a defect led to a "clogged fuel supply pipe". They don't seem to specify which part was faulty or what the defect actually was. Did a valve stick or maybe a turbopump failed. The way it's worded somebody could have left their lunch in the fuel tank.
Anybody know where there's more specific information?
Knowledge Brings Fear
Losing a whole rocket, and cargo therein is not cheap, at all. Capitalism picks the option that maximizes return (in general), choosing cheap parts for the Space Rocket is the opposite of that since you lose rockets, cargo and customers.
Instead it sounds a lot more like remnants of socialism at work, where your cousin Tedinski runs a motor factory and you are giving him the work over "Super Reliable Motors That Never Fail Inc" because you drink together every day that ends with a "y".
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
From the mission control specialists:
Hey, this really *is* Rocket Science!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There was an urgent full-cycle test of Soyuz rocket engine RD-0110 (from the same batch which include failed one) at the test range near russian city Voronezh right after Progress has crashed. Defect inspection after firing test showed no mistakes in manufacturing or defects in materials used, so decision-makers marked this Progress crash with "shit happens" bit, and allowed remaining engines form the batch to be used on purpose.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UqSsvCynYc
You DO know you can say shit on slashdot, right? I mean fuck, man! There are no word police here.
The Shuttle was the pickup in the sky....
Wanna bet? Sincerely The mod who modded you down
Reminds me of a cartoon I saw back in the 70's about the Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous. It showed the two spacecraft, each with a "word-balloon", under the caption, "Checklist."
The Apollo word-balloon was filled with technical-sounding gibberish like, "Primary backup thrust inverters... Check! Docking-ring framulator extenders... Check!"
The Soyuz word-balloon said, "Anvil... Da! Hammer... Da!"
I wish I'd saved that one. ;-)
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
Neither of TFAs said whether or not they expect to get back in service in time for the crew exchange in November. From the SFgate piece, it sounds like they're planning to go ahead, but one has to wonder if that's realistic.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
"The mod who modded you down" seems to have forgotten the myriad methods slashdot uses to undo moderations.
Whether you are logged in or not, using the same browser or not, slashdot (thankfully!) undoes mods from the same IP when a post is made subsequently. Meaning that unless you deliberately abuse Tor or some other anonymizer, your mod has been undone.
So, either, you're not so smug now, or you're admitting to being a Mod Troll; someone who abuses and / or games the Moderation system to push an agenda. I currently have a few of these, and in a fair and just society they'd all be banned for abusing that system...
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
before certifying Soyuz of US astronaut transport. That makes a pretty tight schedule for staffing the Space Station. The last Soyuz lifeboat on the ISS loses its safety rating in November. Soyuzes are given a 200 day safety lifetime mainly due to life-support supplies.
Actually you can post anonymously without undoing mods. As I'm doing right now.
Must have forgotten to feed the hamsters I bet
The Russian aerospace industry is suffering from a chronic labour shortage, and the major upheaval of a program of rapid re-tooling, retraining, and investment. It is very difficult for the Russian industry to meet the production targets imposed by the collapse of the US space program that resulted from the inevitable bankruptcy of the United States (worse has still to come), and the need to produce significantly more Soyuz systems than the production facilities are really safely capable of, in the midst of this significant change within the somewhat outdated manufacturing base.
In general most Russian aerospace manufacturers are suffering from similar problems - particularly a shortage of skilled labour, outdated and labour intensive production methods, and the lack of key personnel, particularly with experience of modern lean production techniques, and generally organising series production runs. The Russian industry also has structural problems. Most Russian manufacturers were fairly vertically integrated, and there has been some loss of expertise over the last decade. It will take time to organise supply chains, and move to a model that will involve a larger degree of outsourcing to specialist manufacturers. The capability seems to exist within the Russian system to achieve this. The question is, will the political will persist to complete re-structuring to a more efficient model of production? There are some fantastic designers in Russia - many significantly better than those available to the American aerospace industry, and a strong and very capable research base, albeit somewhat diminished from Soviet times, as a result of 'brain drain' to more profitable enterprises. The destruction of the Soviet system also lead to a complete collapse in the Russian machine tool industry, which was sadly outdated. Russian aeronautical producers are now in the midst of re-tooling with imported state of the art equipment, but it will take some time to meet modern quality standards, and realise modern lean production methodologies. The painful funding shortage of the 90's has passed, and once again there is now some investment. Hopefully recent incidents will serve as a wake up call that quality control can not be neglected in the midst of this kind of change. Russian designs are generally solid and dependable, but the best designs can be compromised by inferior production, and inexperienced personnel.
It is interesting to note the huge efficiency gains that have been realised on the Soyuz production line, by adopting modern production techniques for some significant components.