Progress MS-04: launch failure

[DocM]

From TASS. RD-0110 failure?

 

http://tass.ru/kosmos/3833015

 

A source in the space industry told Tass that the ship, probably, went into an unplanned orbit, and will not be able to fly to the International Space Station. 

"Given that the engines of the third stage of the carrier rocket worked (for too short a) time, the ship is likely to have fallen in the area of China or the Pacific" - a spokesman said. According to him, an emergency situation has arisen before the ship was separated from the rocket. "If 150 seconds before the separation occurs such that it is difficult to expect something else. Rather, it is lost." Said the source. 

"Perhaps the ship and separated ... but eventually began to decline, and burned up in the atmosphere", - he added. The interviewee said that an emergency situation has occurred in third-stage engine RD-0110 (produced by the) Voronezh Chemical Automatics Design Bureau (KBKhA). "Telemetry was lost 383 seconds of this phase of the engine of the third stage RD-0110," said the source.

According to him, the rocket "Soyuz-U" to start the next "progress" in February, can be replaced by other media.

About the ship

The ship "Progress MS" has three compartments: commercial (for placement of dry cargo and water), the instrument-aggregate and refueling components compartment (for the delivery of fuel to the station). Length - 7.2 m, maximum diameter - 2.72 m, starting weight -. About 7.3 m can take a payload of around 2.6 tonnes.

Docking Station is fully automated, in case of emergency situations, manual docking with the help of teleoperator control mode. After the flight program reduces the ship out of orbit and will cease to exist in the Pacific Ocean - unnavigable its southern part, near Christmas Island
>

 

[DocM]

Reports of a large explosion over the Tuva region of Russia, north of Mongolia, with falling debris. 

 

It's dead, Jim.

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by DocM

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Unbelievable. Need to step up the US launches ASAP.

[DocM]

It's too late to remanifest Japan's HTV-6, which launches December 9, with needed items lost on Progress MS-04.  Sounds like a serious remanifesting of SpaceX CRS-10 will need to be done, which appears to be targeting January.

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Oof. That didn't need to happen. Ouchies.  

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

It doesn't look like the ISS crew will be getting their Christmas presents this year.

[DocM]

December 01, 2016 

RELEASE 16-112

Russian Resupply Ship Experiences Anomaly; International Space Station Crew is Fine

The Russian space agency Roscosmos has confirmed a Progress cargo resupply spacecraft bound for the International Space Station has been lost. The spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Thursday on a Soyuz rocket, but experienced an anomaly around six and a half minutes into its flight.

Six crew members living aboard the space station are safe and have been informed of the mission’s status. Both the Russian and U.S. segments of the station continue to operate normally with onboard supplies at good levels.

The ISS Progress 65 cargo spacecraft launched on time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:51 a.m. EST (8:51 p.m. Baikonur time). The first few minutes of flight were normal, but Russian flight controllers reported telemetry data indicating a problem during third stage operation. The Russians have formed a State Commission and are the source for details on the specific failure cause.

The spacecraft was not carrying any supplies critical for the United States Operating Segment (USOS) of the station. The next mission scheduled to deliver cargo to the station is an H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-6 from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Friday, Dec. 9.

Cargo packed inside the Progress 65 included more than 2.6 tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the space station crew, including approximately 1,400 pounds of propellant, 112 pounds of oxygen, 925 pounds of water, and 2,750 pounds of spare parts, supplies and scientific experiment hardware. Among the U.S. supplies on board were spare parts for the station’s environmental control and life support system, research hardware, crew supplies and crew clothing, all of which are replaceable.

As teams continue to monitor the situation, additional updates and more information about the International Space Station will be available online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

[Unobscured Vision]

And this being an MS-Soyuz series, this is a big problem. People ride on these. Can't have something like this happening with a manned flight, and it's not going to be an easy one to troubleshoot, especially with the telemetry going wonky before the failure.

[DocM]

Some folks at NASA should start worrying about Soyuz, the launcher and the vehicle.  

 

Kazakhstan entry video.

 

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Yeah.  Quite a bad failure. Well, they're all bad, but this one is nasty. Can't shake that "impending doom" feeling with this one, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because people regularly use this vehicle, and all of the elements are common to both Progress and Manned flights aside from the Soyuz's cargo load-out.

 

I think I'd feel better about it if they knew what went wrong when, and had a fault tree started to isolate the problem. That breakup video is just plain nasty to look at. There's way too much debris, like an explosion occurred.

[DocM]

There's been a continuing soap opera around RD0110. See the lower paragraphs.

 

By our counting system the RD-0110 is the second stage; S1+ boosters, S2 and S3. Russians count the boosters as a stage, so it's 4 stages with the RD-0110 in S3.

 

RIA via Google Translate.

https://ria.ru/science/20161202/1482673207.html

Quote

Launched to the ISS ship "Progress-MC-04" crashed late Thursday at an altitude of 190 kilometers above the deserted area in Tuva, most of the fragments vehicle burned in the atmosphere. The incident occurred while the engine of the third stage of the carrier rocket.

Earlier it was reported that the ship's wreckage fell into the 60-70 kilometers west of the city of Kyzyl in the Tuva on casualties or damage were reported.

"Most likely, according to the results of the investigation state commission once again be forced to admit the revealed fact defective engine assembly FH-0110, and bench simulation, which will be conducted after analysis of available telemetry will show what kind of propulsion system component was made with violations," - he said the agency.

Fragments of "Progress" in Tuva will be looking [for debris with] drones

"Probably would follow some personnel decisions, and all ready engines, including already installed on the booster rockets of type" Union "need to be removed, to deliver on the company, re-test, to eliminate possible defects in the assembly, which will lead to the next scheduled transfer starts, "right", - he added.

The source said that before the end of the emergency commission any premature to draw final conclusions.

The developer of the RD-0110 is the Voronezh Chemical Automatics Design Bureau.

Roscosmos told about the details of the crash truck "Progress"

A similar accident with the launch vehicle "Soyuz-U", which led to a [crash of] "Progress M-12M", took place August 24, 2011. Unburned elements of the third stage and the ship fell into the sparsely populated mountainous area of the Altai Republic.

Already on August 29 the cause of abnormal operation of the engine RD-0110 third stage of the rocket it was announced: a violation of the conditions of the gasifier [gas generator] operation. According to the findings of the commission, to the state of emergency has resulted in a decrease in fuel consumption due to clogging tract of its submission. Then manufacturing defect recognized [as] random.

[Unobscured Vision]

Yep, RD-110's again. Guarantee some serious fur is gonna fly over this one.

[DocM]

Can you believe the guy in charge of rebuilding Russia's space program came from their auto industry? Does the name Lada mean anything to you? 

 

Anatoly Zak, RussianSpaceWeb, chimes in. Very well connected.

 

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/progress-ms-04.html#probe

 

Based on the preliminary analysis of the accident, all transmissions from the BR-92R-7M telemetry system on the Soyuz-U rocket ceased abruptly at L+382.3 seconds in flight at an altitude of 181 kilometers, RIA Novosti reported. No issues with the flight had been detected until that moment. During the ascent, all the telemetry from the rocket and from the spacecraft is transmitted to ground stations via antennas installed in the intertank compartment, MBO, of the third stage.

According to an unconfirmed report on the online forum of the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine, at the time of the accident, the rocket's flight control system issued the so-called AVD command, which stands for the "Emergency Engine Cutoff." The AVD command was reportedly triggered by an unacceptable deviation of the vehicle from its prescribed trajectory. This version of the events was apparently discussed at a meeting of top managers at KB Khimavtomatiki design bureau in the city of Voronezh, which developed the RD-0110 engine for the third stage of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle.

However another reliable source on the same forum reported that the AVD command can be issued based of only two criteria: the vehicle deviating from its correct orientation in space more than allowed or the fall of pressure in the combustion chamber of the engine. None of these criteria has been violated, the source claimed.

The reports from NASA, quoting Russian sources, about the deployment of navigation antennas on the doomed cargo ship could indicate the separation of the spacecraft and the rocket stage after the engine cutoff. However due to lack of orbital velocity at the time of the accident, Progress had no chance of reaching orbit. According to the TASS news agency, quoting a spokesman of the Central Military District, the radar of the Russian Anti-Aircraft Defense Forces, PVO, tracked two objects at 17:56 and 17:57 Moscow Time, exactly when the Progress MS-04 mission was underway.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Lada, as in bash the panel with a hammer until it vaguely looks like the drawing? Good god.

[Unobscured Vision]

The one who invented the Riva?? Ewww ... 

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

On 12/2/2016 at 1:47 AM, Unobscured Vision said:

And this being an MS-Soyuz series, this is a big problem. People ride on these.

This thread is about Progress MS-04 which has recently crashed.

 

Soyuz MS-04 is scheduled for March 2017.

 

The last fatal Soyuz-related accident happened back in 1971 if I'm not mistaken.

 

12 hours ago, DocM said:

Can you believe the guy in charge of rebuilding Russia's space program came from their auto industry? Does the name Lada mean anything to you? 

Can you believe that Komarov actually managed to turn things around and resurrect the brand? Lada's majority shareholder is Renault/Nissan group these days and all their cars share common platforms and the same quality.

 

Simply put, Komarov is one of the most accomplished top managers in the country qualified for the job.

 

Have you seen the latest Lada Vesta designed by Steve Mattin, Lada's Chief Designer?

[Unobscured Vision]

14 hours ago, Mirumir said:

This thread is about Progress MS-04 which has recently crashed.

 

Soyuz MS-04 is scheduled for March 2017.

 

The last fatal Soyuz-related accident happened back in 1971 if I'm not mistaken.

HUMANS RIDE ON THE SOYUZ-MS SERIES SPACECRAFT. PROGRESS WAS A SOYUZ-MS SPACECRAFT. IDENTICAL IN NEARLY EVERY WAY.

 

Don't poke me with sticks. I don't respond well to pretense or being talked down to when I know #### well what I'm talking about. Stand down.

[DocM]

The issue was with the Soyuz U launcher. While the Soyuz MS spaceship launches on Soyuz FG, in real terms there are few differences between U and FG other than uprated lower stage engines - both use the RD-0110 powered upper stage which Roscosmos has implicated in this failure.

 

As such, Soyuz MS flights on Soyuz FG launchers are also being called into question until the RD-0110 stage issue gets sorted out.

[Unobscured Vision]

Yep. Not enough differences to even call them differences. Just uprated RD-0110's which I suspect is them telling the flight software to crank up the throttle to 125% or something (and some support hardware), like what they have done with the RS-25's for SLS.

[DocM]

One always has to be careful with Russian media, but some are reporting the RD-0110 had a burn-through - but no word where. The final report should be in December.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

On 12/3/2016 at 10:42 PM, Unobscured Vision said:

HUMANS RIDE ON THE SOYUZ-MS SERIES SPACECRAFT. PROGRESS WAS A SOYUZ-MS SPACECRAFT. IDENTICAL IN NEARLY EVERY WAY.

 

Don't poke me with sticks. I don't respond well to pretense or being talked down to when I know #### well what I'm talking about. Stand down.

The Russians give various names to the same rocket just for fun.

 

You know, all German cars are nearly identical in every way. They are all made of the same components regardless of the badge they are wearing. ZF makes transmissions, VDO makes dashboard electronics, Bosch supplies other parts, etc. Yet, a BMW is not an AUDI.

 

A rocket made by TsSKB-Progress is not the same as the one made by RKK Energia even if they both sport the same engine.

[FloatingFatMan]

Mir, the people in this forum know a LOT more about these rockets than just their names. They're space enthusiasts, every one, and know the details of every one of these rockets very well. Don't bother trying to contradict them, you cannot win.

 

Also, do not mistake people's criticism of Russian rockets as an anti-Russian thing. No one in here is political. We ALL want everyone's space programs to succeed and for no launches to be lost, especially manned ones.

 

Edited December 5, 2016 by FloatingFatMan

[DocM]

Oh, my....

 

The RD-0110, a simple gas generator engine, was killed by FOD (foreign object debris) or the continuing quality control issue. So, if they change from Soyuz-U to the more modern Soyuz 2.1b the stage will switch to a staged combustion motor with 2.5x the chamber pressure, so a failure would make for an even worse day. And all this happened well after the Soyuz LAS would have been jettisoned.

 

Peachy....

 

(11D55 is the engines serial number)

 

http://tass.com/science/924519

Quote

Loss of Progress space vehicle probably caused by foreign particles in pump

MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Presence of foreign particles inside the engines pump or violations of assembly procedures that occurred in the process of engines manufacturing may have been to blame for the loss of the Progress MS-04 cargo space vehicle last December, the Russian space corporation Roscosmos said on Wednesday.

The panel of inquiry has arrived at the conclusion that the oxidizer tank of the third-stage engine was ripped open with an impact of fragments that emerged with the destruction of engine 11D55 as a result of combustion and further destruction of the oxidizer pump. The oxidizer pump may have caught fire for various reasons, such as the likely presence of foreign particles inside or violation of the engine 11D55s assembly procedures (wrong clearance between parts or the rotors unbalance and runout). Defective workmanship manifested itself in flight," the report runs.

Roscosmos said a plan would be presented soon for priority measures to be taken at space rocket industry enterprises to guarantee the safe launch of the cargo vehicle Progress MS-05. Earlier, Roscosmos postponed the launch from February 2 to February 21. The space corporation did not provide any details as to what rocket would be used to launch the Progress craft - Soyuz-U, which crashed in December, or Soyuz-2.

The cargo spacecraft Progress MS-04, which blasted off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan on December 1, was lost in the 382nd second of flight over Tyva at an altitude of 190 kilometers. Most of the debris burned up in the atmosphere. The spacecraft had been carrying 2.5 tonnes of cargoes, including New Year presents, to the International Space Stations crew.

The probe into the causes of the crash began on December 2 to have been completed on January 11. The inquiry was prolonged several times. The CEO of the Roscosmos corporation, Igor Komarov, led the probe himself.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

1 hour ago, DocM said:

The RD-0110, a simple gas generator engine, was killed by FOD (foreign object debris) or the continuing quality control issue...And all this happened well after the Soyuz LAS would have been jettisoned.

 Oh dear.

[Unobscured Vision]

Oh boy.  Heads are gonna roll over this one.