The Russian space freighter Progress M-27M hurtles toward Earth without knowing exactly when or where his remains will fall in a painful setback for the industry Russian aerospace.
“Forecasting the exact date and place will fall fragments of Progress that will not disintegrate in the dense layers of the atmosphere will be possible only a few hours before that happens,” the official news agency said today Russian RIA Novosti source in the aerospace sector.
The same source added that the rate of decline will depend on the state of the atmosphere and the solar wind, but stressed that “in the last 24 hours the cargo ship has already lost tens of meters.”
The Progress craft, used for 35 years, is one of the great pride of the Russian aerospace industry, with an almost immaculate record: hitherto been a single accident in August 2011, caused by a failure of the carrier rocket .
The Control Center of Space Flight (CCVE) of Russia lost control of the freighter, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) at 0710 GMT yesterday, after it will be located in the wrong orbit and stopped sending data Earth because all antennas are not deployed.
All attempts to regain control of automatic ship, which was carrying to the International Space Station (ISS) about 2.5 tons of supplies-fuel, oxygen, food, scientists- teams have so far been unsuccessful.
“In the course of some additional tests (…) it has detected a lack of secrecy in the main ducts of the propulsion system, making it impossible for the freighter continue its flight and docking to the ISS safe way” said Igor Komarov, director of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
The CCVE said it will continue trying to establish communication with the Progress enabling give orders as to achieve could be controlled to some extent fall.
This could occur next week, between the 5 and May 7 , according to the Energia corporation, manufacturer of the cargo.
The chief flight program the Russian segment of the ISS, Vladimir Solovyov, said the experience of previous collapses of the Progress ships in the Pacific Ocean show that the elements of the freighter not reach the surface of the Earth.
“As a rule, they burn in the dense layers of the atmosphere, about 60 kilometers altitude,” said Solovyov, told a news conference.
The number two of Roscosmos, Alexander Ivanov, said that the fault “is probably related to the separation of carrier rocket ship”, but stressed that it will take the results of the investigation to determine its cause.
The Russian aerospace officials agree that the loss of Progress does not affect the current crew of the ISS: Anton Shkaplerov Russian Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko, Samantha Cristoforetti Italian and American Scott Kelly and Terry Virts.
“We have made an inventory of what’s on board (ISS) and I can say that there are sufficient reserves of all, oxygen, water, fuel,” Solovyov said, adding that should suffice until the arrival of the next cargo ship, scheduled for on 6 August.
However, it is likely that the Russian space agency forward the launch of the Progress M-28M, which is already in Baikonur, which could take place no later than June, because it requires at least a little more one month for preparation of the ship.
The family of Progress was born to supply the Soviet manned space station Salyut 6, the first for long-duration missions, into orbit in 1979.
Every year, Russia sends three to four freighters carrying supplies for the International Space Station, a project involving 16 countries and has an estimated 100 billion dollar cost.
The platform, with crew on board continuously since 2000, has a mass of about 450 tons and orbits at a distance of between 335 and 460 kilometers above the Earth at a speed of about 27 thousand kilometers per hour.
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