Fri, Feb 27, 2004
Investigation Continues Into Deadly Accident
The investigation
continues into a deadly accident affecting India's space program
earlier this week. At least six people were killed and three
injured in a fire in India's main space center Monday, an official
said. The fire broke out in the fuel testing area of the center in
the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, said the official.
"A test motor caught fire while being transported and as a
result the building caught fire. The fire is now more or less under
control," said the space center official, who did not wish to be
named. The spaceport, the launching center of the country's
satellite-bearing rockets, is located on Sriharikota island, 60
miles north of the southern city of Madras.
The major fire accident occurred on a Segment of a Test Rocket
Motor at the Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant (SPROB) at Satish
Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota, in the afternoon. It
claimed the lives of six persons including an engineer, three
technicians and two assistants and caused burn injuries to three
persons.
The work at the time of fire accident was the final operations
of removing the fixtures after the satisfactory conclusion of
propellant curing of a segment of a motor holding around 14.5 tones
of solid propellant, which is a composite of Ammonium Perchlorate
Oxidizer, atomized aluminum powder as fuel and Hydroxy Terminated
Polybutadiene as binder. In the afternoon, the crew had
satisfactorily concluded the removal of mandrel, which is one of
the critical operations. At around 3.15 p.m. the crew were
attending to the removal of the bottom plate of a propellant
casting assembly. During this procedure, the propellant in the
segment inadvertently caught fire and caused the subsequent
damage.
Three members of the nine-member team were able to escape from
the building with burn injuries, while six others who could not
escape from the building were rapidly asphyxiated. The building
suffered extensive damage due to intense heat.
A high power Committee has been appointed under the Chairmanship
of Shri R Aravamudan to identify the events that led to the
accident, the extent of damage, and the corrective actions required
for the future.
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