"hop" wrote in message
ups.com...
[According to a TsUP
statement to Russian media today, the test run on 4/20 failed when an
external antenna, intended for comm with the European ATV (Automated
Transfer Vehicle) "Jules Verne", blocked the thermal (sun) cover of one
of the engines from opening fully.]"

If that is the whole story, it sound like pretty poor engineering.
OTOH, it may be simple enough to fix on EVA.

No doubt. This is the sort of thing that you can simulate on a computer.
My company makes, among other things, motion software that will detect just
this sort of problem. And I know we aren't the only ones, since there is a
bit of competition from other CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM software venders.

At the very least, the Russians could have installed the antenna on a
mock-up SM to check for clearance issues. Of course, I'm assuming that they
built an SM mock-up for ground testing purposes. When NASA was running the
Skylab program, I believe there was not only a flight backup, but a (nearly)
fully functional ground based version for testing purposes. These sorts of
things come in handy when problems develop in orbit and you need to test a
fix and/or procedures on the ground.

Jeff
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