Launch News (FAILURE) Space launch down in Aloha! Super Strypi first launch, November 3/4, 2015

Cosmic Penguin

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You probably have never heard about the rocket ever before, or even the launch site, but a co pletely new US rocket will fly to space in the next few hours from Hawaii!

You probably have never heard of the Super Strypi rocket. That is normal, because the developers really keep this project under the wraps! It's a small rocket developed as an upgrade from an existing sounding rocket that can carry about 300 kilograms to Low Earth Orbit.

The 3 stage all-solid fuel rocket was developed by a group of organizations lead by the U.S. Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space office, with input from Aerojet, the University of Hawaii and Sandia National Laboratories. The project was aimed to build and fly a "quick response" rocket to fly small satellites into orbit at very short notice (but see below).

The rocket will fly from a launch site new to the satellite launch arena. The Pacific Missile Range Facility on the west tip of Kauai Island, Hawaii is more related to Aegis system and AA missile tests than space launches, but today a mobile rail launcher will house the first space launch from Hawaii.

Well, for such a simple launch system.....it really took a very long time for the first flight to reach the pad. This first flight was first scheduled in 2013 and was delayed by 2 years due to various issues - and a recent report stated that it and other various "satellite quick launch systems" developed by the US military are nowhere near operational! Ouch...

So amid its uncertain future, the first flight has finally come. Currently the launch is scheduled at 02:30 UTC (3:30 pm local) and it will carry 13 small satellites from various US institutions. Live coverage is available at http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/03/ors-4-mission-status-center/.

Good luck! :hailprobe:

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boogabooga

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So, basically, it's a sounding rocket that just keeps going?
 

Cosmic Penguin

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Holding again after an earlier delay today.

Erm, is this really a quick-launch rocket? :shifty:
 

MaverickSawyer

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They need to make sure this mission succeeds. If it doesn't then the program comes under the crosshairs of the budget-cutting folks.

---------- Post added at 18:52 ---------- Previous post was at 18:45 ----------

Hold removed. T-53 minutes (?)

---------- Post added at 19:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:52 ----------

Yep. New T-0 of 0345 GMT.
 

boogabooga

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I was watching.

It started to precess, then animation showed tumbling, then cut off of livestream.

From text feed:

The Super Strypi launch vehicle has lifted off from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii on an experimental test flight of a new military lightweight satellite booster. The first moments of the flight appeared to go well, but an animation of the launch vehicle derived from telemetry appeared to show it tumbling shortly after liftoff.

We are standing by for an update on the status of the launch from mission managers.
 

Scruce

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Perhaps it's still nominal?

So word I got from folks on island is that first stage visually was nominal, planned 2 minute coast before 2nd stage ignition. #ORS4
Source
 

MaverickSawyer

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Good video from the ground appears to show an in-flight breakup of the vehicle:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsMegDZ_VFQ#t=64"]Super Strypi Rocket Launch On PMRF 3 November 2015 - YouTube[/ame]
 

boogabooga

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Spaceflight now is claiming that this video is showing the vehicle break up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsMegDZ_VFQ#t=91

High-altitude disintegrations are hard to diagnose. The symptoms are a lot of smoke and fire, which there already is even when things are nominal. Videos of the Challenger disaster show that the spectators were not aware of what they were witnessing for some time.
 

MaverickSawyer

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There seems to be a sharp cutoff in the smoke plume, followed by several smaller streaks continuing downrange.

I don't know if it would be a range safety-triggered breakup... or a known issue with possible burnthrough in the last few seconds.

"The first launch has been delayed about two years to allow time to explore a problem found in the first stage. After a test burn, forensics showed the solid propellant had burned through insulation lining the case. It had not compromised the case itself, Anttonen says. After conducting a risk assessment for the launch, Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, Space and Missile Systems Center commander, and each customer agreed to allow the launch to go forward without a fix and accept the possibility of a malfunction. “It is a relatively easy thing to fix [in production,] but retrofitting it after you have done it is difficult,” Anttonen says. The additional risk does not move the launch beyond the existing medium/high category it was already occupying because it is a new system, he said. The final seconds of first-stage flight are when there is the most risk.
http://aviationweek.com/space/usaf-s-super-strypi-small-launcher-set-fly-october
 

Cosmic Penguin

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Well I was watching during a break from work training - just as I was thinking at T+30 s that "Hmm, isn't that spin rate a bit too high?" the rocket started to wobble and I knew it would flop sooner or later... :shifty:
 

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All-solid, derived from sounding rockets, launched at an angle, reminds me of the Japanese L-4S.
 
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boogabooga

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With other launch vehicles, it seems to be very important during the "gravity turn" to keep the vehicle's longitudinal axis aligned with the velocity vector at all times so that aerodynamic forces won't act in a way that would flip the vehicle.

I'm not sure I understand the spin-stabilized strategy. This will fix the attitude during launch, but wouldn't the velocity vector and the vehicle's longitudinal axis become misaligned over time?
 

MaverickSawyer

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I strongly suspect that there was more of an issue with burnthrough of the casing... They knew there was an issue there, but felt it was within acceptable limits. and given the timing of the failure, it strongly points towards the casing bursting.
 

Linguofreak

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With other launch vehicles, it seems to be very important during the "gravity turn" to keep the vehicle's longitudinal axis aligned with the velocity vector at all times so that aerodynamic forces won't act in a way that would flip the vehicle.

I'm not sure I understand the spin-stabilized strategy. This will fix the attitude during launch, but wouldn't the velocity vector and the vehicle's longitudinal axis become misaligned over time?

While it remains in atmosphere it tends to remain fairly well aligned. Or at least:

six_words.png
 

fred18

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I have to say that this is quite surprising...

It's true that space flight is always difficult and full of unknowns, but yet we are talking about nasa and a very simple rocket... It seems to me like Ferrari could not make work a baby toy car...
 
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