REAL LIFE NEWS: WHY DID THE RUSSIAN ROCKET EXPLODE?
by Hazed
Last week I told you about the Russian rocket which had crashed and burned just after take-off, destroying the two Glonass satellites it was carrying.
Now some information is coming out about the cause of the failure.
First, let’s discount one of the wilder theories. I doubt there is any truth in the assertion by one Russian blogger that the failure was deliberately staged in order to cover up the fact that the latest Glonass satellites are not yet fully functional.
The most likely possibility is human error, on the part of whoever it was that installed a flight control sensor. The investigating team has discovered it was fitted upside down - despite being marked with an arrow which shows which end goes up.
Another possibility the investigators are considering is that the rocket launched early and the engines overcompensated to ensure lift-off. This would have put extra stress on the motors, damaging them and causing the loss of control.
If it turns out to be human error, I pity the technician who is to blame; he’s likely to be in a whole heap of trouble. I don’t know if they still exile miscreants to Siberia, but at the very least he’s going to find himself out of a job.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/10/human_error_blamed_for_toxic_russian_rocket_explosion/
