"Roscosmos" recalled all the engines of the second and third stages of the carrier "Proton-M"
According to newspaper sources, “we are talking about RD-0210 / 0211 and RD-0213 / 0214 engines manufactured by the Voronezh Mechanical Plant: they are installed on the second and third levels of Proton, respectively.”
“The problem was revealed some time ago during the fire tests of one of the second stage engines: according to the results of the investigation of the causes of the incident, it turned out that the assembly of the product used illiquid components,” said the source.
In particular, instead of materials containing precious metals that should be used on this type of engine, “less heat-resistant materials were used, which are used in other types of engines produced at VMZ,” the article says.
This fact did not go unnoticed by law enforcement. Now the company employs employees of the FSB and the Investigative Committee.
“According to the documents signed by the inspectors, the engines are in perfect order,” one of the sources specified.
The decision to recall the engine made 20 January. “We are talking about all without exception engines for“ Protons ”, released at VMZ over the past few years. These are dozens of units, including those that have already been delivered to the Baikonur cosmodrome, ”said the source.
According to a source close to Roskosmos, “they corrected the situation at Vyksa with the Energomash Research and Production Association,” since it is believed that the situation with the quality and reliability of the engines produced is much higher.
“The contour of the integrated structure headed by Energomash includes the Chemical Automation Design Bureau, which is the developer of engines for the second and third stages of Proton launch vehicles and thoroughly knows the technical characteristics of the engines and the specifics of their manufacture. To remedy the situation that has developed at VSW, as part of the industry reform carried out by Roskosmos, we will conduct an audit and additional technical control of all engines that have already been produced at VSW, ”said Igor Arbuzov, general director of Energomash.
According to him, this measure "will accelerate the identification of the causes of the detected defects, their elimination and may lead to changes in the timing of launches of Proton and Soyuz launch vehicles."
According to the newspaper, this year, Roskosmos hoped to conduct 27 launches, no less than 8 of which fall on the Protons.
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