{"id":16292,"date":"2015-06-03T00:16:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T16:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/progress-failure-probe-points-to-linkage-with-soyuz-rocket\/"},"modified":"2015-06-03T00:16:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T16:16:14","slug":"progress-failure-probe-points-to-linkage-with-soyuz-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/progress-failure-probe-points-to-linkage-with-soyuz-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress failure probe points to linkage with Soyuz rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Russian
Russian technicians work on the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket and Progress M-27M spacecraft before their doomed April 28 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Energia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russia says a design bug from the pairing of a Progress spacecraft with an upgraded version of the venerable Soyuz launcher led to the loss of a resupply mission bound for the International Space Station on April 28.<\/p>\n

The Russian space agency \u2014 Roscosmos \u2014 announced Monday the failure of the mission resulted from an abnormal separation of the Progress M-27M supply ship from the third stage of its Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

The government-appointed commission tasked with investigating the failure concluded a design flaw \u201cassociated with the frequency dynamic characteristics\u201d in the connection between the Progress supply ship and the Soyuz rocket\u2019s third stage led to the mishap.<\/p>\n

Officials previously said the botched separation occurred after a depressurization of the third stage\u2019s propellant tanks.<\/p>\n

The abnormal release of the Progress spacecraft sent the cargo carrier into an unrecoverable spin. Ground controllers were unable to wrestle control of the supply ship, which re-entered the atmosphere May 8.<\/p>\n

The Progress M27-M spacecraft, the 59th Progress logistics mission launched to the space station, was supposed to deliver more than 3 tons of supplies and experiments to the outpost.<\/p>\n

It was the second Progress spaceship to launch on the upgraded Soyuz-2.1a rocket, which features modernized digital flight controls to replace older analog guidance systems aboard previous Soyuz boosters.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Progress M-27M spacecraft lifted off April 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Credit: TsENKI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Soyuz-2.1a uses the same RD-0110 third stage engine as earlier Soyuz rockets, but Russian authorities apparently found a link between the April 28 failure and changes made to the modernized version of the launcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis design feature was not fully taken into account in carrying out development work\u201d on the Progress and Soyuz-2.1a launch system, Roscosmos said in a statement issued Monday.<\/p>\n

The first Progress launch aboard a Soyuz-2.1a rocket in October 2014 was successful.<\/p>\n

The Soyuz 2 rocket configuration has launched Russian military satellites and commercial payloads into orbit since it debuted in 2004. The upgraded Soyuz rockets are also launched from the European-run Guiana Space Center in South America.<\/p>\n

Roscosmos said investigators found the problem that struck the Progress spacecraft does not affect launches of other satellites on the Soyuz-2.1a rocket.<\/p>\n

Russia planned to launch future Progress missions on a mix of the updated Soyuz-2.1a rocket and the legacy Soyuz-U configuration, before eventually switching all cargo launches to the new rocket.<\/p>\n

Roscosmos said last year the upgrades to the Soyuz-2.1a booster allowed it to loft up to 300 more kilograms \u2014 about 660 pounds \u2014 of cargo to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n