Sea Launch Investigation Completed
Regarding the Sea Launch failure that destroyed the NSS-8 satellite, Novosti in Russia reports:
An unsuccessful rocket launch under the Sea Launch project in late January was caused by engine failure, the press secretary of Russia’s federal space agency said Tuesday.
A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket carrying a commercial communications satellite exploded shortly after liftoff from an oceangoing platform in the Pacific on January 31.
"The intergovernmental commission comprising representatives of Ukrainian and Russian organizations – the developers of the Zenit-3SL carrier rocket … has completed its work. It has established that the engine failed after a metal particle accidentally went into the engine’s pump," Igor Panarin said.
Panarin said the commission has proposed recommendations whose implementation will provide for the continued use of Zenit-3SL carrier rockets.
Viktor Remishevsky, deputy head of Russia’s federal space agency Roskosmos, earlier said rocket launches under the Sea Launch project would resume in 2007, adding that the Odyssey platform had suffered only minor damage.
The Satellite News Digest (subscription) goes further in its commentary:
Stray particle blamed on Zenit-3SL explosion
According to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), the explosion of a Zenit-3SL in late January was caused by poor workmanship that led to an engine failure.
"The intergovernmental commission comprising representatives of Ukrainian and Russian organisations, the developers of the Zenit-3SL carrier rocket … has completed its work. It has established that the engine failed after a metal particle accidentally went into the engine’s pump," Roskosmos spokesman Igor Panarin said.
He said the commission has proposed recommendations whose implementation will provide for the continued use of Zenit-3SL carrier rockets.
Viktor Remishevsky, deputy head of Roskosmos, earlier said rocket launches under the Sea Launch project would resume in 2007, adding that the Odyssey platform had suffered only minor damage.
It’s a rather surprising that the quality control problems with rockets from the former Soviet Union still persist as they have been known for years. Stray particles in various parts of rockets botched two Proton launches in July and October 1999 as well as a Soyuz-U launch in October 2002. Most recently they affected a Briz-M upper stage which failed to deploy Arabsat 4A into geostationary transfer orbit in February 2006.
An investigation into a Proton failure found piece of asbestos fabric, traces of aluminium and copper, and even sand in defective engines. Among the recommended modifications were additional filters in fuel lines, checking internal cavities for foreign particles as well as the quality of welding seams in the turbo-generators.
[These recommendations may have been applied to Proton but apparently not to other rockets. Some may call this "learning the hard way."–Ed.]
