Launch News (Failure) Phobos-Grunt and YingHuo-1 atop Zenit-2 on November 8/9, 2011

[SiberianTiger]

This so called investigation into Phobos-Grunts failure looks more like a witch hunt to me...

Investigation into the failure failed. :facepalm:

 

[Ghostrider]

Are they going to launch a probe to find the witch? And in this case, do they have a clue about the whereabouts of the witch? What's the best launch window to Oz? And can they tell us about the witch-finding equipment? I'm especially curious about the SCI (Scrying Crystal Imager) experiment developed by the Sturmdrang students.

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://www.interfax.ru/news.asp?id=228489

More than half of electronics aboard Phobos-Grunt weren't space-rated

Voronezh, Jan 31. INTERFAX.RU - More than one half of the chips aboard Phobos-Grunt probe were not intended for use on spacecraft, told the head of committee for investigation of the failure Yuri Koptev during Tuesday's press conference in Voronezh.


According to him, there were 95,000 electronic chips on board the spacecraft, out of which 62% were Industry class electronics shipped by foreign suppliers. "Anyone who is familiar with this classification knows that it wasn't the electronics which could guarantee failure safety during a spaceflight", said Koptev.

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Russia May Run Repeat Mission to Phobos:

Russia will send another sample mission to the Martian moon Phobos if the European Space Agency (ESA) decides not to include Russia in its ExoMars program, the head of Russia’s space agency said on Tuesday.

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"We are holding consultations with the ESA about Russia’s participation in the ExoMars project… If no deal is reached, we will repeat the attempt [to launch a Phobos mission],” Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said.

{...}

Universe Today: Russia To Try Again For Phobos-Grunt?

 

[Mattyv]

Can't figure out why your spacecraft failed?....

'nough said

 

[SiberianTiger]

Few interesting suggestions defending positions of PhG engineers at NK forum (link):

1. There are indications that in reasonable temperature and vibration conditions INDUSTRIAL electronics are more reliable than MIL/SPACE.

2. There are very few components available in MIL class, there is very little in SPACE mod and even less SPACE - RadHard rated parts.

3. It makes no sense to discuss the absorbed radiation. There are no electronic parts with radiation strength less than 2-5 kRad. In LEO and behind a protective layer with density 1 g/cm^2 absorbing that will take decades. See it yourself: any electronics is more durable than a human (300-600 Rad).

4. There's an experience of exploiting INDUSTRIAL rated components in outer space with no problems.

5. AFAIK, there are no test devices in Russia to adequately assess radiation strength of electronics.

6. Two computer glitches occurring at the same time is much less possible than two shells falling into the same crater. Even a processor isn't so simple to be "kicked" off-line by a particle. Such probability, a very little one, exists in case a particle hits the CPU crystal in the moment when a trigger is being toggled.

7. So does a technology test stand exist or not? When was everything assembled into a single workable thing?

8. Is there an integrated reliability test rig for the entire spacecraft, including the propulsive stage?

9. Who wrote the Technical Inquiry? The contractors?

10. It seems to me that the latest developments might make us to say good-bye to possibilities of developing a non-standard or scientific spacecraft in future.

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003351/

Official Phobos-Grunt Failure Report Released
Jan. 31, 2012 | 16:32 PST | Feb. 1 00:32 UTC

By Louis D. Friedman

Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, has released its official report concerning the failure of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which fell back to Earth from orbit on January 15 after failing to ignite the engines that were to take it to the largest Martian moon.

News agencies are reporting that the investigating commission blames the failure on space radiation from charged particles, which damaged poor-quality "imported" electronic chips. This seems an unlikely cause and, at best, an oversimplification. Until we read a translation of the actual report, we can't be sure what it actually says.

As Principal Investigator for the Phobos LIFE capsule and an experimenter on the mission, I have requested a copy of the Roscosmos report to analyze. When I better understand what is known and why the spacecraft failed to start its engines to leave Earth orbit, I will report back to Planetary Society Members, who supported our LIFE experiment with their donations.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Why did they use low quality electronic chips anyway? the spacecraft is good but it's chips aren't.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Why did they use low quality electronic chips anyway? the spacecraft is good but it's chips aren't.

1. Time and cost restrictions of the project.

2. Disappearance of domestic made space-rated components from Russian market due to bankruptcy of the enterprises which used to produce them during the USSR (plus unfavorable investment climate preventing new enterprises to begin their business).

3. Trading restrictions in the USA law forbidding to sell certain high quality electronics to Russia out of fear that it might be used to produce weapons.

 

[Artlav]

According to him, there were 95,000 electronic chips on board the spacecraft

Am i the only one who finds this a friggin lot of chips?
Or did they count every last resistor and capacitor as chips?

 

[SiberianTiger]

Am i the only one who finds this a friggin lot of chips?
Or did they count every last resistor and capacitor as chips?

I think some SSI chips that might be used there are little more than few transistors, diodes and capacitors wired together.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Am i the only one who finds this a friggin lot of chips?
Or did they count every last resistor and capacitor as chips?

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that valves were used on some PG circuits. :lol:

 

[Arrowstar]

A steam-punk space probe? Now we're talking! :lol:

 

[Yoda]

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003351/

Sounds like a bunch of excuses for poor design and poor quality review processes that appear in place at Roscosmos.

 

[SiberianTiger]

We have yet to read the actual report.

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Phobos Crash Test Dismisses U.S. Link

 

[orb]

Roscosmos: Основные положения Заключения Межведомственной комиссии по анализу причин нештатной ситуации, возникшей в процессе проведения летных испытаний космического аппарата «Фобос-Грунт»
(The main conclusions of the Interdepartmental Commission for the analysis of the causes of abnormal situations arising in the course of flight of the spacecraft "Phobos-Grunt")

Full text in Russian only for this moment, but you can use on-line translators.

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Heavy Ions Killed Mars Probe – Investigators

 

[NovaSilisko]

Another day, another excuse...

 

[orb]

The Planetary Society Blog: Phobos-Grunt Failure Report Released:

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The officially released final report presents three main conclusions (paraphrased here from a cursory and unofficial translation):

1. Everything was working well with the spacecraft immediately after launch, including deployment of the solar panels, until the command to start the engines was issued. When that did not happen, the spacecraft went into a safe mode, keeping the solar panels pointed to the Sun to maintain power.
   
   
2. The spacecraft computer failed when two of the chips in the electronics suffered radiation damage. (The Russians say that radiation damage is the most likely cause, but the spacecraft was still in low Earth orbit beneath the radiation belts.) Whatever triggered the chip failure, the ultimate cause was the use of non-space-qualified electronic components. When the chips failed, the on-board computer program crashed.
   
   
3. There was inadequate ground-testing of all spacecraft components.

{...}

Discovery News: Programming Error Doomed Russian Mars Probe