A private spaceship bound for the International Space Station exploded shortly after launch on Tuesday. Orbital Sciences' unmanned Cygnus spacecraft exploded as it blasted off atop an Antares rocket a few seconds after liftoff Tuesday evening from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.
The rocket launch was to be Orbital Sciences' third official cargo mission to the Space Station for NASA under a $1.9 billion contract, which calls for a total of eight delivery missions. The robotic Cygnus spacecraft — also built by Orbital — was filled with 5,000 pounds of food, water, experiments and other gear for the astronauts currently living aboard the space station.
To Absent Friends
Dalton | Admin Smash | Knight of the Order of SDN
"y = mx + bro" - Surlethe
"You try THAT shit again, kid, and I will mod you. I will
mod you so hard, you'll wish I were Dalton." - Lagmonster
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
You must have posted this exactly the same time I did. Mine has a video though. It's quite a sight.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Great loss of hardware, but no one was hurt as far as I can see, so hopefully there's no financial consequences.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
It's a setback, and an impressive reminder of the dangers involved in lighting off that much rocket fuel, but yeah, no one seems to be injured, thank goodness.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Eternal_Freedom wrote:I believe "oh bollocks" is called for here.
Heavy damage to Wallops Flight Facility, no casualties.
Oh bollocks is the right word, this is one of the COTS vehicles, of which SpaceX flies the other. Seems to be the first failure in their first stage out of 5 flights so far which, to be perfectly honest, isn't a bad record.
It's also destroyed a Planetary Resources satellite that it was boosting into LEO, so that sucks for them.
Next supply mission going up is launching tomorrow, it's a Progress vehicle. At least those on the ISS wont be going hungry ^^
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Looks an awful lot like footage of the old Russian N-1 moon rocket test flights — one of them got just a little bit clear of the pad then there was a flare from the engines as one of them exploded and took out some of the others. (The N-1 had 30 engines in its first stage, and they hadn't worked out all the bugs in the plumbing yet.) Anyone else thinking maybe something similar's happened here?
“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel — merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
I'm not a rocket scientist, an engineer, or anyone smart enough to perform an investigation of this, but if you watch the video, you'll see that the rocket flares up significantly about one second before something blows up.
My guess is that one of the engines malfunctioned, throttled up or something, and then exploded, damaging the other engines and leading to unfocused burning that caused the rocket to fall right back down again.
Prannon wrote:My guess is that one of the engines malfunctioned, throttled up or something, and then exploded, damaging the other engines and leading to unfocused burning that caused the rocket to fall right back down again.
It only has two motors. If one blew, it is very likely to have taken the other one completely, not just damaged it.
What's even better about the N-1 comparisons though is that the Antares first stage flies on a pair of AJ26-58 motors. The AJ26 was originally the NK-33, a motor slated for the N-1 rocket, then sold to Aerojet in the mid 90's. So yeah...
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
A good point, these engines aren't exactly shiny new, bleeding-edge technology. The Russians did come up with some very good designs, though, and this is one of them; I can't find reliability numbers for the engine itself, but so far the refurbishment deal's gone quite well (until a couple of hours ago...)
“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel — merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
SpottedKitty wrote:A good point, these engines aren't exactly shiny new, bleeding-edge technology. The Russians did come up with some very good designs, though, and this is one of them; I can't find reliability numbers for the engine itself, but so far the refurbishment deal's gone quite well (until a couple of hours ago...)
To be fair, there isnt a whole lot you can do with rocket motor design. One you have a turbopump fed engine with a twr and isp like the nk-33, youre pretty much flying the best motor youre going to get.
As far as I know, reliability is good. It has been for the antares until now at least. I believe theyre the only arrojet refurbishment flying. I might be wrong though.
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Sigh....one of my former coursemates is using this to harp on about how the Russians are useless, that for every success they have 32.something failures (but won't provide evidence for) and that the Russians lost two crews in the last two years due to rocket malfunctions.
For reference, he's an ex-Marine, which explains his "Merica fuck yeah."
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Yeah, how many rockets exactly blew up in our faces before we managed to land on the moon? I'm fairly certain we had our own fair share of facepalm moments. Rockets exploding is nothing new.
A good rule for rocket experimenters to follow is this: always assume that it will explode.
— Astronautics, issue 38, October 1937.
It all looked so easy when you did it on paper—where valves never froze, gyros never drifted, and rocket motors did not blow up in your face.
Eternal_Freedom wrote:Sigh....one of my former coursemates is using this to harp on about how the Russians are useless, that for every success they have 32.something failures (but won't provide evidence for) and that the Russians lost two crews in the last two years due to rocket malfunctions.
Perhaps tell him that a few hours after the explosion Progress 57 blasted off from Baikonur. It linked up with the ISS just fine after six hours of trouble-free spaceflight.
Or perhaps don't bother talking to obvious loonies, I guess.
Yeah I'm rapidly coming to that conclusion. To hell with him.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Eternal_Freedom wrote:Sigh....one of my former coursemates is using this to harp on about how the Russians are useless, that for every success they have 32.something failures (but won't provide evidence for) and that the Russians lost two crews in the last two years due to rocket malfunctions.
For reference, he's an ex-Marine, which explains his "Merica fuck yeah."
Does he know that the current R-7 derivative (Soyuz-FG) has had zero failures out of 29 launches since 2001 when it came into service. Or that the Soviets haven't lost a crew since Soyuz... 11? That was 1971. Since then the US has lost two complete shuttle crews.
If it isn't obvious, I dislike anti-Russian stupids because the Russians are remarkably safe rocket engineers for around 40 years. Even Buran flew perfectly.
As for US early failures, well... Vanguard got relabelled Kaputnik by the press for a reason. There was no US orbiter until January 1958 despite numerous attempts.
"Seriously though, every time I see something like this I think 'Ooo, I'm living in the future'. Unfortunately it increasingly looks like it's going to be a cyberpunkish dystopia, where the poor eat recycled shit and the rich eat the poor." Evilsoup, on the future
Yeah I've said all that...he just replies that anyone who uses Challenger or Columbia as a reponse to him saying the Soviets were useless is "being insensitive to the crews" and that "only a certain kind of person would resort to it, for shame."
Fuckwit. He still owes me a beer as well.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Yeah I've said all that...he just replies that anyone who uses Challenger or Columbia as a reponse to him saying the Soviets were useless is "being insensitive to the crews" and that "only a certain kind of person would resort to it, for shame."
Oh so he's one of those, "If you criticize 'Murrica then you must be a terrorist asshole?" people?
Eternal_Freedom wrote:Yeah I've said all that...he just replies that anyone who uses Challenger or Columbia as a reponse to him saying the Soviets were useless is "being insensitive to the crews" and that "only a certain kind of person would resort to it, for shame."
Fuckwit. He still owes me a beer as well.
Meh. He is a Russophobe and damned if he's proven incorrect.
STGOD: Byzantine Empire Your spirit, diseased as it is, refuses to allow you to give up, no matter what threats you face... and whatever wreckage you leave behind you.
Kreia
The said part is he works with the Russians...quite how no one has decked him yet I do not know.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Eternal_Freedom wrote:The said part is he works with the Russians...quite how no one has decked him yet I do not know.
Once they get him to drink his fill of Vodka and spills the beans, we will see which ditch he ends up in.
STGOD: Byzantine Empire Your spirit, diseased as it is, refuses to allow you to give up, no matter what threats you face... and whatever wreckage you leave behind you.
Kreia
Eternal_Freedom wrote:[H]e just replies that anyone who uses Challenger or Columbia as a reponse to him saying the Soviets were useless is "being insensitive to the crews" and that "only a certain kind of person would resort to it, for shame."
This from the same man who harps on how the "Russians lost two crews in the last two years due to rocket malfunctions"? Not only is he a loonie, he's a raging hypocritical fuckwit as well. Ditch and avoid.
Done and done. It's a shame really, he used to be a pretty cool guy.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
