SpaceX Reports First Falcon 1 Rocket Lost
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
Space.com
posted: 24 March 2006
6:15 p.m. ET
After years of development and no less than three scrubbed attempts, a
solitary rocket Falcon 1 rocket roared toward space Friday only to be
lost just after liftoff, its builders said.
The private launch firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launched
the two-stage Falcon 1 rocket at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT) in a space
shot staged from the U.S. military’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile
Test Site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean’s Marshall Islands.
But moments after ignition, webcast video from the rocket appeared to
show a rolling motion before the feed was lost. Details surrounding
possible causes for the rocket’s failure were not immediately available.
“We had a successful liftoff and Falcon made it well clear of the launch
pad, but unfortunately the vehicle was lost later in the first stage
burn,” SpaceX chief Elon Musk said in an update posted to his firm’s
website. “More information will be posted once we have had time to
analyze the problem.”
The ill-fated launch marked SpaceX’s fourth attempts to loft the first
Falcon 1 after glitches prevented three earlier efforts. SpaceX
employees and launch controllers could he heard via an audio link
shouting “Go!” just after launch, only to fall silent once the failure
was evident.
“I did have word that we did lose the vehicle,” Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX
vice president of business development, told reporters. “Clearly this is
a setback, but we’re in this for the long haul.”
The rocket was expected to deploy its cargo, the small, cube-shaped
FalconSat-2 spacecraft built by U.S. Air Force Academy, about 10 minutes
after launch. The $800,000 satellite was designed to measure the effects
of space plasma on communication and global positioning satellites. The
mission carried a $6.7 million price tag covered by the U.S. Air force
and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
“We were of course very disappointed,” said U.S. Air Force Academy
spokesperson John van Winkle, adding that cadets packed the FalconSat-2
flight control room to capacity to watch the attempted launch. “We were
so excited to see it lift off.”
Earlier attempts to launch Falcon 1 and its FalconSat-2 payload were
thwarted by liquid oxygen leaks, computer and structural glitches, as
well as unsatisfactory pad tests, SpaceX officials have said.
Earlier engine tests needed
Prior to today’s launch attempt, Musk told SPACE.com that some of his
Falcon 1 rocket’s growing pains could have been avoided by conducting
pre-launch engine test.
“The single biggest lesson is that we should have planned to do a static
fire, which is analogous to the engine run up done by aircraft, before
the first launch attempt,” he said in an e-mail interview. “That would
have highlighted some of the issues we saw early on and might have
allowed us to launch sooner.”
SpaceX engineers conducted several engine static fires leading up
today’s launch attempt and all seemed go for launch.
Each of the scrubbed launch attempts could provide a wealth of data that
allowed SpaceX launch controllers and engineers to hone their skills,
Musk has said.
“I really believe that constant improvement is the path to
revolutionizing space exploration,” Musk said via e-mail before today’s
launch.
While Falcon 1 is designed to launch payloads of up to 1,256 pounds (570
kilograms) into low-Earth orbit (LEO), plans for the firm’s larger
Falcon 9 booster are expected to allow payloads of up to 21,000 pounds
(9,500 kilograms) in a medium configuration and 55,000 pounds (25,000
kilograms) cargo to LEO in its heavy configuration.
It is the Falcon 9 that SpaceX hopes to use for its Dragon space
capsule, a reusable craft it is developing to compete for NASA flights
to supply and crew the International Space Station (ISS). Musk has said
that human spaceflight has always been his target for SpaceX.
“We need a Moore's Law of space, similar to that of the semiconductor
arena, where the cost per pound cost of access to space is constantly
improving,” Musk told SPACE.com earlier. “Only if that happens, will we
become a true spacefaring civilization where ordinary people have the
opportunity to travel in space,” Musk said.
--
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