It took longer because I was expecting Isar Aerospace to launch their Spectrum booster from Andøya Spaceport, in Norway last Monday, the 24th and instead they repeatedly scrubbed or held until this morning (Sunday, March 30). The mission was over within 40 seconds.
It's still too early in the aftermath of the failure for Isar to have explained much, but the rocket visibly behaved improperly almost from the moment it left the launch pad. When the rocket started to pitch downrange to start transferring some velocity into that direction, other videos make it obvious that the booster isn't well-controlled and appears to be wobbling around. The mission ends with the booster landing in water adjacent to the launch pad and exploding. The booster appears to be off - or just barely running
Spectrum is closer in size to Rocket Lab's Electron than SpaceX's Falcon 9, with a payload to orbit of one metric ton (2200 lbs), compared to Electron's payload of closer to 660 lbs. Spectrum's payload is closer to the Electron's than the Falcon 9's capability, though.
There was no payload for this flight.
Spectrum has yet to reach orbit, but Isar has already signed an agreement with the Norwegian Space Agency for the rocket's first commercial missions in which it will launch the Arctic Ocean Surveillance (AOS) program satellites by 2028. It's unclear if today's anomaly will affect that timeline.
Watching the launch, it was obvious (especially with 20-20 hindsight) that the rocket was in trouble.
ReplyDeleteSpace is hard.
But it's a start.
It very clearly was short on thrust. Nobody designs a small rocket to take off that slowly. At least they didn't hit the building!
ReplyDeleteScott Manley pointed out the roll problem just before they cut the engines.
ReplyDeleteWhy no FTS? Too close to the launch site? It dropped less than 100 meters from the launch site !
I hope they were smart enough to keep everybody well clear of the launch site.
ReplyDeleteCould the control issues have been from wind once it cleared wind shadow if the hills?
Jonathan
"Loved" the ice on the surface after the boom.
ReplyDelete26 seconds into the youtube video it looks like either an engine failure or partial failure. The exhaust plume shortens considerably while the cloud is still behind the plume.
ReplyDeleteI thought that they commanded the engines to shut down, and that's the reason they didn't use an obvious Flight Termination System, but I have no way to know that.
DeleteUsing propane for fuel was novel and I had high hopes for it.
ReplyDeleteThe engines did their job. The control systems didn't.
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