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ESA's Vega failed...again (link)
Hello All,
Shades of the LTV Scout's early days...tonight ESA's all-solid propellant (except for a small, restartable hypergolic propellant fourth stage/orbit "trim" stage, called AVUM) Vega launch vehicle failed again (see: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/11/...-status-center/ [videos are also here]). Spain’s SEOSAT-Ingenio Earth observation satellite and France’s Taranis scientific research satellite were lost on tonight’s Vega launch failure.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
#2
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Lol. Not surprised.
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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!! Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't ! Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY. ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC ! |
#3
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I find it VERY surprising. After all, Vega flew 14 times without a hitch before they suffered a structural failure on flight 15. ESA is already reporting this failure (admittedly, now 2 of the last 3 launches, 2 of 17 overall, for an 88% success record/12% fail rate) was due to human error - something in the fourth stage was mis-wired.
ESA will get their act together. Ariane was a bit of a mess early on, and is now highly reliable. And, given their "built-in" customer base of, well, ALL of Europe, they'll still have missions to fly! |
#4
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The story on spaceflightnow.com talks about swapped cables in the engine control system and that it was human error, not a design error.
If it CAN be hooked up incorrectly leading to reversed controls like this, it IS a design error, or at least we would see it that way in the aircraft industry..... That said, I hope they get it sorted out. I don't like to see any of these launchers fail.
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Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE |
#5
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Quote:
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#6
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Quote:
Had the Vega's ^first^ stage TVC (Thrust Vector Control) cabling been mis-connected, it would have been as exciting a launch as Mercury-Scout 1's (I don't like launch failures, but if a given one is doomed to happen, I'd rather--*unless* a crew is involved, of course--at least get a spectacular fireworks display out of it). On November 1, 1961, a Blue Scout II (round D-8) lifted off from Pad 18B at Cape Canaveral, carrying the Mercury-Scout 1 satellite, which was to remain attached to the Altair fourth stage in orbit (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Scout_1 ) . The battery-powered spacecraft's purpose was--like that of the later TETR Apollo tracking network training satellites--to give the worldwide Mercury network of tracking stations experience with tracking, receiving, transmitting to, and "handing off" an "electronic Mercury spacecraft simulator." But because a technician had installed the Blue Scout II's guidance system wiring backwards--transposing the pitch and roll actuators' signal cables--the vehicle began to go wild only a few seconds after liftoff, and it began to break up at T+28 seconds; the Range Safely Officer transmitted the destruct command at T-43 seconds.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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