KOROLEV, Moscow Region. Nov 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The failure to lift the International Space Station (ISS) to a specified orbit on November 17 was caused by the shortcomings of mathematical models of engines, Vladimir Solovyov, mission control officer of the station's Russian segment, told reporters Monday.
"We have concluded all inspections, but eventually came to realize that our ground-based benches cannot take into account all conditions of operation in space," he said.
He explained that the inadequacy of the mathematical models resulted in the fact that the engines of the Progress spacecraft were fed on wrong command.
"As a result, the engines produced less thrust, about 40 percent of the required," he said. According to him, the commission that investigated the reasons of the failure drew up certain recommendations to prevent such failures in future.
"The engines are all right. After the commission finishes the work, we will make up some mathematical models that will describe the processes at the ISS more precisely," he added.
According to him, the failure to lift the station to a higher orbit will not affect other plans of the Mission Control Center.
"We are not going to repeat the maneuvers," he said and added that it would be premature to speak of the exact date of Progress-M51 launch, initially scheduled for December 23.
"Progress will lift off in late December, but I cannot specify the exact date, as there is a whole month of flight ahead of us," Solovyov said.
He praised the redocking of the Soyuz spacecraft by the ISS crew.
"The crew did all right, burning mere 9 kg of fuel for all redocking procedures. Usually, such operations consume about 27 kg," he said.