Brazil's defence ministry says poor funding and lax management contributed to the explosion of a VLS satellite launcher at the country's Alcantara launch site on 22 August last year, killing 21 engineers and technicians.
An electrical flaw triggered one of the VLS 1 booster's four solid rocket motors. The fault arose from a combination of poor decisions by government managers that led to a breakdown of safety procedures, routine maintenance, training and communic- ations, says the ministry. Some technicians did not know ignitors had been installed on the four motors the day before the accident. Electrical cables for the ignitors were poorly insulated.
Source: Flight International
