MOSCOW, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The crash of the Proton-M rocket earlier this month was caused by incorrectly-installed angular speed sensor, Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
"Telemetry information, an experiment on and analysis of the rocket fragments found show that the manufacturer incorrectly installed the angular rate sensors," deputy head of Roscosmos Alexander Lopatin told reporters.
He specified that the device was installed upside down.
According to Lopatin, the failed sensor which caused the crash was installed to the rocket in November 2011.
Roscosmos reconsidered the entire production chain of the space rockets to avoid the accidents like that which has led to a crash of a Proton-M.
"We introduce the photo- and videotaping on all stages of production," Lopatin said, adding that Roscosmos will also check all similar sensors on all Protons on stock.
Lopatin chairs a commission investigating the crash that happened on July 2, when the Proton-M crashed 17 seconds after the launch from Baikonur cosmodrome.
Immediately after the crash, Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin suggested that the accident may be caused by a premature ignition.
The Proton-M carrying three communications satellites fell about 2.5 km away from the launch pad. Another Proton-M rocket also failed to reach orbit in 2012.
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