The end of January has become a very hot time for Voronezh workers in the space industry. It all started on January 20, when the director of the Voronezh mechanical plant, part of the Khrunichev concern, Ivan Koptev, decided to dismiss him.
The reason for the dismissal was their own desire, based on the conclusions of the commission, which came to the conclusion about the unsatisfactory quality of the products.
On the same days, black minibuses with the inscriptions “Investigative Committee of Russia” and “General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation” began to appear in the parking lot near the entrance of the plant.
On January 25, it was reported that Roscosmos decided to recall ALL engines assembled at VSW over the next 5 years. Including those that have already been sent to cosmodromes and even installed on launch vehicles.
We are talking about engines of the second and third stages for the Proton-M launch vehicle. Moreover, according to the representative of "Roscosmos" Igor Burenkov, the question is about the recall of dozens of engines.
Returning to the plant, full inspection, elimination of the identified violations will take from three to five months. Considering that the check established the use of solder that does not correspond to the design documentation, it is not a matter of one day.
Obviously, the launch schedule has been disrupted. According to forecasts, the first start from Baikonur may take place no earlier than June this year. Accordingly, the remaining satellites Echostar-21 and Hisposat-1F will bring colossal losses. By the way, Blagovest should also be launched by Proton …
To remedy the situation, it was decided to connect another engine-building enterprise - NPO Energomash. He was entrusted with the audit and additional technical control of all engines produced at VSW.
It is clear that the employees of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee will figure out how some materials were replaced with others that are less resistant to temperatures. And why did all this pass by a huge number of supervising and checking responsible persons.
Meanwhile, the next crew to the ISS is scheduled to start on March 27. The question arises: is it worth risking the lives of Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin, given that in terms of the device of the third stage of the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG rocket, on which the cosmonauts are to fly, are identical? And there is still the same RD-0110, with which problems constantly arise.
And we don't have another engine certified for manned flights.
We got off to a great start to 2017 with the entire space fleet pinned to the ground. And you shouldn't rely on the miraculous "Angara": there is simply no "Angara" capable of plugging the "proton hole". Hopefully for now.
But the question arises: what next? Undoubtedly, those guilty of replacing components with non-standard ones will be found. They will find and punish. Perhaps they won't be punished. It all depends on the level at which this disgrace occurred. Well, everyone knows how it happens here.
Undoubtedly, there will be those guilty of signing the acts of readiness. But how much it can improve the situation, that is the question.
In the meantime, despite Peskov's vigorous assurances that everything is fine in the space industry, we are losing. Both the United States and China. And we will continue to yield positions if we do not tackle the problems of Roscosmos tightly and toughly.
Unfortunately, last year we wrote more than once about problems in the space sector. And, unfortunately, they were right in many things. But the rockets continue to fall, despite all the tricks of the "effective managers".
