Monday, December 13, 2010

SURPLUS FUEL BELIEVED CAUSE FOR RUSSIA'S GLONASS SATELLITE LOSS

The main cause of the loss of Russia's three Glonass-M satellites was due to human error from fueling the booster rocket with an excess of 1.5-2 tons of fuel, the head of the Russian state commission probing the incident said on Friday.


The excessive fuel caused the DM-3 booster rocket to deviate from its course, leading to the subsequent loss of the satellites in the Pacific Ocean earlier in the week."According to preliminary information, the problem was not with the fuel service unit at the launching site, but with one of the sensors showing the fuel level," Gennady Raikunov, the head of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building, who also heads the investigation commission, said.
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