Forgotten Bolt

The cause of the Proton-M accident could have been a malfunction in the connection of the rocket stages

Kazakhstan is ready to soon bill Russia for the failed launch of the Proton-M launch vehicle earlier this month. Examinations carried out at the site of the fall of the Proton debris, as one would expect, revealed in the soil that the maximum permissible concentrations of heptyl, which is part of rocket fuel, were several times exceeded. And this means that the neighboring republic will traditionally demand compensation for damage caused to the environment.

It is noteworthy, however, that the dialogue between the states is being conducted in a businesslike manner, without the harsh statements that Kazakh officials made on the day of the fall of Proton, September 6. In the Dzhezkazgan region of Kazakhstan, the reclamation of contaminated land should begin in the near future, and Russian specialists will also take part in the work. “All technical specifications for detoxification and reclamation have been agreed upon and signed by the Russian and Kazakh sides,” Valery Petrov, deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the neighboring republic, said yesterday. Apparently, the Kazakh authorities assumed that greater damage would be caused to nature. But, as Mr. Petrov admitted yesterday, on most of the 119 Proton fragments discovered, “samples showed the absence of heptyl.” However, in some areas where the rocket fell, he said, traces of heptyl were still found. But they no longer pose a threat to the population and the environment.

While environmentalists are busy eliminating the consequences of the accident, the search for its cause continues. Immediately after the disaster, experts had no doubt that it was due to a technical malfunction of the Russian rocket. Yesterday, a version was announced that clarified which part of the carrier contained the faulty part. An informed source from the Interfax agency at the Baikonur Cosmodrome suggested that the Proton could have crashed due to a defective pyrobolt connecting the rocket stages. “A preliminary study of the wreckage of the first stage of the rocket allows us to come to the conclusion that after the completion of the first stage, due to a defect in one of the pyrobolts, the separation of the first and second stages did not occur in time. The engines of the second stage turned on, but since the block of the first stage acted as a screen for gases from the engines of the second stage, the gas jets were reflected and, “returning” to the second stage, burned through the cable network, putting it out of action. Due to a short circuit, the correction motors could not work,” the expert claims.

However, official representatives of Roscosmos are not yet ready to confirm or refute this version, the meaning of which boils down to the fact that the cause of the disaster was an insignificant detail. “Now the government commission is conducting its work, determining the damage. Only after its work is completed will it be possible to objectively judge the cause of the accident,” Roscosmos press secretary Alexander Vorobyov told Vremya Novostey. The fact that the causes of the Proton malfunction that led to the disaster have not yet been determined, which is why the Kazakh side has imposed a “taboo” on the flights of heavy Russian missiles, does not interfere with the preparation of new launches at Baikonur. Russian experts believe that the latest incident, like the series of failures in 1999, does not call into question the reputation of this heavy carrier. “After the reasons are fully clarified, the Protons will fly,” Mr. Vorobiev is sure.

Kirill MELNIKOV