Aviation and defence experts say that chemical residue on wreckage could confirm the type of weapon that brought down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
The location of debris could yield information on how the attack unfolded and evidence of shrapnel in aircraft panels could confirm that the plane was hit by a SA-11 Buk missile.
The black boxes could offer vital clues as well, with the explosion captured by the cockpit voice recorder, and the data recorders, which register altitude and position, would be able to tie that information to the timing of any known missile launch in the area detected by U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellites.
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Engineering & Technology magazine 