Electrical Discharge Faulted In Accident

An explosion that destroyed a Brazilian rocket in 2003, ending the country's third attempt at space flight, was caused by an unidentified electrical discharge that ignited an engine by mistake, a report said on Tuesday. The commission investigating the accident that killed 21 people found no specific reason for the electrical fault. But it said years of underfunding of Brazil's space programs had compromised the safety of the project.

The rocket exploded on its jungle launch pad on Brazil's northeastern coast on Aug. 22, 2003 -- just days before it was to have blasted off. Had the launch succeeded, Brazil would have become Latin America's first country to enter space. Reading from the report by the independent commission, Defense Minister Jose Viegas said underfunding had left Brazil's space programs in a "virtual state of hibernation for a dangerously long period."

"The prolonged existence of the project with a shortage of human and material resources could have led to growing difficulties in perceiving the degradation of working conditions and security," he said. Viegas said no individual could be blamed for the accident. Rather, his and previous governments should take responsibility for failing "to resolve the difficult problem of maintaining investment in our strategic programs and that in delaying to do so could cause harm to the nation."

According to the report, Brazil spent less than $20 million on its space programs last year. The space base had no functioning weather radar, nor a meteorological expert, making space launches unsafe. Viegas said the center-left government was committed to relaunching the space program and investing $100 million in it this year, making a new rocket launch possible by 2006. But he said a long list of problems had to be addressed. There was no proper risk management plan and staff were not told what they were meant to be doing.

The report concluded that not all recommendations made after Brazil's last failed space launch were followed. Brazil tried to launch rockets in 1997 and 1999, but both had to be destroyed after lift-off because of technical problems. The military, which is ultimately in charge of Brazilian rocket projects, was criticized by victims' families for surrounding the investigation with secrecy. But a group representing the families said it accepted Tuesday's conclusions. "The report satisfies all our questions," said Jose Oliveira, a representative of the group.

FMI: www.mrree.gub.uy/iiicea/PAISES/Brasil/Brazilian%20Space%20Program98.htm