[AR] Re: Antares Lost On Liftoff
- From: Alejandro Zuzek <a.zuzek@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 10:34:16 -0300
I was about to say that the NK-33 has a knack for destroying launch pads,
but then realized that the N-1 problems were caused by the NK-15, the NK-33
predecessor.
On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 9:04 AM, Stephen Burns <stephen.burns@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> No one got hurt, Orbital Sciences for the win!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Burnsie
>
> *From:* arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *On Behalf Of *Jonathan Goff
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 29, 2014 8:33 AM
> *To:* arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [AR] Re: Antares Lost On Liftoff
>
>
>
> Henry,
>
> Ben Brockert and George Herbert noticed that the drop rate after the
> explosion was less than 1G, so only one of the two engines may have failed.
> Ben also suggested that being a single-shaft turbopump, it could've been
> either a nozzle leak or some problem with the LOX turbine or injectors.
> Hopefully I'm remembering that right.
>
> Sad day for Orbital.
>
>
>
> ~Jon
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 6:23 PM, Henry Vanderbilt <
> hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> I've only just seen the video, but it looks like today's Antares launch
> had an engine failure a few seconds after liftoff, fell back on the pad,
> and exploded. Pending more data, it looks like the big questions going
> forward will be the NK-33/AJ-26 engines, and pad damage.
>
> Video at
> http://www.clickorlando.com/news/nasa-rocket-explodes-shortly-after-launch/29392528
>
> Several seconds after liftoff, the exhaust plume seems to double in
> width/brightness for a good part of a second, flickers, then there's an
> explosion around the aft end of the rocket, no further engine plume, and
> the vehicle falls back onto the pad area with about the results you'd
> expect. (Nobody hurt, according to initial reports.)
>
> Massively sparse data for now, of course, but it looks like the initial
> failure may, repeat may, have been a massive fuel leak - a split nozzle? -
> with that engine exploding part of a second later, presumably taking out
> the second engine in the process.
>
> Henry V
>
>
>
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