There are little explosive pyro devices that are often used to shear bolts. These caused the folks working on the Mars Rovers a problem when they found that some of them could fail and would not allow the solar panels to unfold. We watched Steve Sqyres explain on a NOVA Special how much trouble it was to replace them and how close they came to missing a launch date.
- LRK -
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/
snip
NARRATOR: Three months before launch, the rovers are on their way to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's the first leg of a journey that will end on Mars. At the launch pad, preparations are underway. The engineers carefully inspect the rovers one last time, and they find a problem: a faulty circuit board inside both rovers. To replace them they must open the solar panels by firing explosive fasteners called pyros, of which there are dozens on each rover.
STEVE SQUYRES: The rover's solar arrays were already fastened together. Everything was all fastened up tight, they were ready for launch. We had to open them up again. The only way to do it was by actually firing live pyros. Bang, bang, bang.
NARRATOR: With the panels open, the problem is easily fixed. New boards go in; the panels are closed up again and secured with fresh pyros. But just three weeks before launch the engineers discover that pyros can sometimes short circuit when fired. And a short might have overheated components called resistors in the pyro-firing circuits, compromising their ability to fire pyros on Mars.
snip
------------------------------
No humans on board this kind of launch but something that needs to be understood.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.cbsnews.com/
NASA's Glory satellite lost in $424 million launch failure (UPDATED)
CBS News
NASA's Glory atmospheric research mission satellite crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean Friday after a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate during launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket. The $424 million failure was the second in a row for the Orbital Sciences booster following the 2009 loss of another environmental satellite due to a similar nose cone malfunction.
"I think it's not an understatement to say tonight we're all pretty devastated," said Ronald Grabe, a former space shuttle commander who now manages Orbital's Launch Systems Group. "But we will recover, the team will bounce back because they're all professionals. Orbital Sciences will bounce back with the Taurus vehicle."
snip
------------------------------
The Taurus vehicle has had this problem before and hurts to be bit twice.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://spaceflightnow.com/
NASA environmental satellite lost in launch failure
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 24, 2009;
Updated after news conference
NASA's $273 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica shortly after launch today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL booster. Telemetry indicated a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate early in the climb to space, weighing the rocket down and preventing the spacecraft from reaching orbit.
"It's a huge disappointment to the entire team that's worked very hard over years and years and really did their best to see it through," said NASA launch manager Chuck Dovale. "The reason not everyone is able to do this is, it's hard. And even when you do the best you can, you can still fail. It's a tough business.
Said John Brunschwyler, manager of the Taurus rocket program for Orbital Sciences: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, are disappointed in the events of this morning. It's very hard and, as I said, at a very personal level, (we're) upset with the results."
snip
------------------------------
Rocket science isn't easy and the unknown is a hard teacher.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.astronautix.com/
Gemini 9
Crew: Cernan, Stafford. Third rendezvous mission of Gemini program. Agena target blew up on way to orbit; substitute target's shroud hung up, docking impossible. EVA almost ended in disaster when astronaut's face plate fogged over; barely able to return to spacecraft. Backup crew: Aldrin, Lovell. At the first launch attempt, while the crew waited buttoned up in the spacecraft on the pad, their Agena docking target field blew up on the way to orbit. NASA decided to use an Atlas to launch an Agena docking collar only. This was called the Augmented Target Docking Adapter. Ths was successfully launched and the Gemini succeeded in rendezvousing with it. However, the ATDA shroud had not completely separated, thus making docking impossible. However three different types of rendezvous were tested with the ATDA. Cernan began his EVA, which was to include flight with a USAF MMU rocket pack but the Gemini suit could not handle heat load of the astronaut's exertions. Cernan's faceplate fogs up, forcing him to blindly grope back into the Gemini hatch after only two hours.
snip
------------------------------
Nose cone shrouds have caused problems before, even in the Apollo program.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Agena target vehicle
The Agena target vehicle (ATV) was a spacecraft used by NASA during its Gemini program to develop and practice orbital space rendezvous and docking techniques in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions.
Each ATV consisted of an Agena spacecraft built by Lockheed and a docking adapter built by McDonnell. The Agena was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 on top of an Atlas booster built by the Convair division of General Dynamics. The Agena first burn would occur shortly after shroud jettison and separation from the Atlas over the Atlantic Ocean. Over Ascension Island, a second burn would boost the Agena into a low circular orbit.
snip
------------------------------
------------------------------
http://www.wired.com/
5 of the Worst Space Launch Failures
The United States’ first attempt to launch a satellite into orbit was also its first failure. Two seconds after leaving the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, this rocket lost thrust and sank back down, rupturing and exploding its fuel tanks. It had reached a height of about four feet. Though the rocket was destroyed, the Vanguard satellite it was carrying was thrown clear, its transmitters still signaling. It is now on display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Image (above): NASA
snip
------------------------------
Not only Orbital, but also SpaceX has had their false starts.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.wired.com/
SpaceX: ‘We have heard from launch control that there has been an anomaly.’
Five minutes after liftoff, the live webcast of a Falcon 1 rocket launch, carried out by SpaceX on Kwajalein Atoll, abruptly ended. The final message, that there has been an anomaly, suggests that this was the third failure for the private space transportation company.
If that is the case, at least there is a silver lining to this cloud: The NASA payload was relatively inexpensive in comparison to a normal satellite.
Here is a partial transcript:
snip
------------------------------
Other countries have had their share of rocket failures too so I guess one should not be surprised when they happen.
Will just have to watch and see who thinks the conquest of space is worth the risk.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/
snip
NARRATOR: Three months before launch, the rovers are on their way to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's the first leg of a journey that will end on Mars. At the launch pad, preparations are underway. The engineers carefully inspect the rovers one last time, and they find a problem: a faulty circuit board inside both rovers. To replace them they must open the solar panels by firing explosive fasteners called pyros, of which there are dozens on each rover.
STEVE SQUYRES: The rover's solar arrays were already fastened together. Everything was all fastened up tight, they were ready for launch. We had to open them up again. The only way to do it was by actually firing live pyros. Bang, bang, bang.
NARRATOR: With the panels open, the problem is easily fixed. New boards go in; the panels are closed up again and secured with fresh pyros. But just three weeks before launch the engineers discover that pyros can sometimes short circuit when fired. And a short might have overheated components called resistors in the pyro-firing circuits, compromising their ability to fire pyros on Mars.
snip
------------------------------
No humans on board this kind of launch but something that needs to be understood.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.cbsnews.com/
NASA's Glory satellite lost in $424 million launch failure (UPDATED)
03/04/2011 08:41 AM Filed in: Space News | Space Science
Editor's note...- Posted at 07:07 AM, 03/04/11: NASA's Glory satellite lost in $424 million launch failure
- Updated at 09:00 AM, 03/04/11: News conference; quotes and details
CBS News
NASA's Glory atmospheric research mission satellite crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean Friday after a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate during launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket. The $424 million failure was the second in a row for the Orbital Sciences booster following the 2009 loss of another environmental satellite due to a similar nose cone malfunction.
"I think it's not an understatement to say tonight we're all pretty devastated," said Ronald Grabe, a former space shuttle commander who now manages Orbital's Launch Systems Group. "But we will recover, the team will bounce back because they're all professionals. Orbital Sciences will bounce back with the Taurus vehicle."
snip
------------------------------
The Taurus vehicle has had this problem before and hurts to be bit twice.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://spaceflightnow.com/
NASA environmental satellite lost in launch failure
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 24, 2009;
Updated after news conference
NASA's $273 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica shortly after launch today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL booster. Telemetry indicated a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate early in the climb to space, weighing the rocket down and preventing the spacecraft from reaching orbit.
"It's a huge disappointment to the entire team that's worked very hard over years and years and really did their best to see it through," said NASA launch manager Chuck Dovale. "The reason not everyone is able to do this is, it's hard. And even when you do the best you can, you can still fail. It's a tough business.
Said John Brunschwyler, manager of the Taurus rocket program for Orbital Sciences: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, are disappointed in the events of this morning. It's very hard and, as I said, at a very personal level, (we're) upset with the results."
snip
------------------------------
Rocket science isn't easy and the unknown is a hard teacher.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.astronautix.com/
Gemini 9
Crew: Cernan, Stafford. Third rendezvous mission of Gemini program. Agena target blew up on way to orbit; substitute target's shroud hung up, docking impossible. EVA almost ended in disaster when astronaut's face plate fogged over; barely able to return to spacecraft. Backup crew: Aldrin, Lovell. At the first launch attempt, while the crew waited buttoned up in the spacecraft on the pad, their Agena docking target field blew up on the way to orbit. NASA decided to use an Atlas to launch an Agena docking collar only. This was called the Augmented Target Docking Adapter. Ths was successfully launched and the Gemini succeeded in rendezvousing with it. However, the ATDA shroud had not completely separated, thus making docking impossible. However three different types of rendezvous were tested with the ATDA. Cernan began his EVA, which was to include flight with a USAF MMU rocket pack but the Gemini suit could not handle heat load of the astronaut's exertions. Cernan's faceplate fogs up, forcing him to blindly grope back into the Gemini hatch after only two hours.
snip
------------------------------
Nose cone shrouds have caused problems before, even in the Apollo program.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Agena target vehicle
The Agena target vehicle (ATV) was a spacecraft used by NASA during its Gemini program to develop and practice orbital space rendezvous and docking techniques in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions.
Each ATV consisted of an Agena spacecraft built by Lockheed and a docking adapter built by McDonnell. The Agena was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 on top of an Atlas booster built by the Convair division of General Dynamics. The Agena first burn would occur shortly after shroud jettison and separation from the Atlas over the Atlantic Ocean. Over Ascension Island, a second burn would boost the Agena into a low circular orbit.
snip
------------------------------
So not the always a good day for those looking up.
- LRK -
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.wired.com/
5 of the Worst Space Launch Failures
- By Wired Science
- February 24, 2009 |
- 11:34 am |
- Categories: Space
The United States’ first attempt to launch a satellite into orbit was also its first failure. Two seconds after leaving the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, this rocket lost thrust and sank back down, rupturing and exploding its fuel tanks. It had reached a height of about four feet. Though the rocket was destroyed, the Vanguard satellite it was carrying was thrown clear, its transmitters still signaling. It is now on display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Image (above): NASA
snip
------------------------------
Not only Orbital, but also SpaceX has had their false starts.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.wired.com/
SpaceX: ‘We have heard from launch control that there has been an anomaly.’
- By Aaron Rowe
- August 2, 2008 |
- 9:30 pm |
- Categories: Space
Five minutes after liftoff, the live webcast of a Falcon 1 rocket launch, carried out by SpaceX on Kwajalein Atoll, abruptly ended. The final message, that there has been an anomaly, suggests that this was the third failure for the private space transportation company.
If that is the case, at least there is a silver lining to this cloud: The NASA payload was relatively inexpensive in comparison to a normal satellite.
Here is a partial transcript:
snip
------------------------------
Other countries have had their share of rocket failures too so I guess one should not be surprised when they happen.
Will just have to watch and see who thinks the conquest of space is worth the risk.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
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