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Russia Blames a Bad Sensor For Its Failed Soyuz Rocket Launch (wired.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: On Thursday, Russian officials held a press conference to reveal that they have determined what caused last month's Soyuz mid-flight failure. The culprit: a damaged sensor on one of the rocket's four boosters responsible for stage separation. With the investigation complete, the officials announced that they will move up the date of the next crew launch to the International Space Station. Russian space agency officials confirmed that the faulty sensor, designed to signal stage separation, had caused one of the boosters to improperly separate. This led the first and second stages of the rocket to collide, which then triggered the vehicle's emergency abort system.
Video of the incident, released today by the space agency, shows the accident from the rocket's point of view. In it, the booster in question strikes the core of the rocket, causing a significant jolt, which triggered the abort. According to officials, the afflicted sensor rod was bent slightly during the assembly of the rocket. To check for any handling errors that might have also affected other rockets, Russian officials said that all assembled Soyuz rockets -- and their attached booster pack -- will be taken apart and put together anew.
Video of the incident, released today by the space agency, shows the accident from the rocket's point of view. In it, the booster in question strikes the core of the rocket, causing a significant jolt, which triggered the abort. According to officials, the afflicted sensor rod was bent slightly during the assembly of the rocket. To check for any handling errors that might have also affected other rockets, Russian officials said that all assembled Soyuz rockets -- and their attached booster pack -- will be taken apart and put together anew.
Scott Manley has a good video analysis.
The problem was with a bent pin seemingly 'forced' in during assembly rather than the sensor itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
American components, Russian components - all made in Taiwan!
Props for the abort system which apparently did its job flawlessly, but... it's a bit worrying that one bent pin on a sensor can do in the entire system.
You know there is a reason that "rocket science" is the standard analogy phrase used for a difficult endeavor. Rockets are chock full of seemingly mundane things that can result in disaster if they don't perform perfectly in extremely high stress conditions. Aside from maybe military combat equipment I can't think of any devices we make which experience tougher conditions with less safety margin.
Was it the same drill guy who was up there trying to turn the ISS into swiss cheese?
I feel a bit nostalgic, it's almost like the old /. was back.
Ok, only the bad memes of the old /., but ... hey, I take what I can get.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.