Roscosmos said the cause of the failed launch from the Baikonur East
The emergency Commission of the Russian space Agency has published the official results of the investigation of the accident on 28 November, which led to the loss of the satellite “meteor-M”.
As reports a press-service of Roscosmos, the results of operation of the emergency Commission investigating the unsuccessful launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome carrier rocket “Soyuz-2.1 b” with spacecraft “meteor-M”, the experts came to the conclusion that the emergency situation brought neprognoziruemoe the behavior of the upper stage “Fregat” after its separation from the rocket.
“It revealed a hidden problem in the algorithm, which is not manifested decades of successful start-UPS bundles “Soyuz-Fregat”, — stated in the message (have RBC).
According to the Commission, after separation of the booster control system “began to give the control a reversal of the orbital block in the desired angular position” — began the process of spatial orientation of the upper stage. During this period, the telemetry tools fixed abnormal angular position “Frigate”, which went to the calculated trajectory after switching on main engines.
“There was such a combination of parameters of the launch pad Baikonur, azimuth of flight of the carrier rocket and the upper stage, which had not met before. Accordingly, it was not detected during ground testing a ballistic trajectory in accordance with current practices”, — stated in the statement of the Commission.
“After conducting an extensive analysis, members of the Commission consider that the manifestation of the incorrectness of the algorithm could not happen when you launch from Vostochny is the same payload with the same upper stage on the rocket. The start-up was would normally, for example, in the summer, or if areas drop detachable parts PH was in the direction from the selected” — suggests the Russian space Agency.
To immediately remedy the situation be adjusted by the control system algorithm of the spatial orientation of the block “the Frigate” and the existing regulations already given orders to develop a new modern complex of methods of simulation and control flight characteristics of the launch vehicles.
A separate Commission will thoroughly dismantle organizational issues and
prepare proposals for the assessment of responsibility of officials for the acceptance or rejection of decisions that influenced the completeness of prelaunch testing of the mission.
Three-stage carrier rocket “Soyuz-2.1 b” was launched from the Vostochny space centre on 28 November, at 14:41 local time (8:41 GMT). It was the second launch in the history of the cosmodrome. Watched him Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, Igor Komarov, as well as commander of the space forces, Alexander Golovko.