Research - Simple Mistake Leads To Expensive Rocket Failure

Russia has determined that a simple programming error was the cause of last month's failed space mission that destroyed 19 satellites from seven countries, including a $58 Million weather satellite.

The Soyuz 2.1b Rocket looked great as it took off on 28 November from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, way out in the wilderness of Russia's far east.  It was only the second launch from the brand-new space center, the first to be run by Russian civilian authorities and a major a priority of President Vladimir Putin.

But the Fregat Upper Stage suffered an apparent failure which resulted in the loss of all the satellites, because it was misprogrammed as if it were taking off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan, where Russia has traditionally operated its space program all the way back to the Soviet days.  Programmed with the wrong coordinates, the rocket never "knew" where it was.

All of the smaller research and commercial satellites from Russia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Japan, Canada, and Germany.  But the primary payload was Russia's Meteor-M No.2-1, which was intended to be the latest member of Russia's Meteor low Earth orbit weather satellite system, the third in the current generation.  With its suite of sophisticated instruments, Meteor-M No.2-1 was supposed to maintain and expand Russia's weather forecasting capabilities.