Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal negligence case against space officials they say were responsible for the loss of three Glonass navigation satellites in a December crash, Russia’s official RIA Novosti news agency reported May 23.
Several senior space officials were reprimanded for not enforcing prelaunch safety procedures and failing to spot an error in fuel calculations that caused the satellites’ Proton-M carrier rocket to veer off-course and crash into the Pacific Ocean. The loss of the satellites cost Russia 4.3 billion rubles ($152 million).
A preliminary investigation conducted on orders of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “established facts of offences punished by the Criminal Code, in which Roscosmos and Russia’s Energia space corporation officials were implicated,” the news agency said.
