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Upper Stage Issue Causes Arianespace Launch Failure, Costing 2 Satellites
Upper stage issue causes Arianespace launch failure, costing 2 satellites:
An overnight launch of Arianespace's Vega rocket failed after reaching space, costing France and Spain an Earth-observing satellite each. The failure represents the second in two years after Vega had built up a spotless record over its first six years of service.
[...] Something went wrong with the liquid-fueled [fourth] stage after it had reached an altitude of over 200km. While it's not entirely clear at the time what had failed, in the words of Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël, "The speed was not nominal anymore." This caused the upper stage and satellites to veer off the planned trajectory, and Arianespace lost control of the vehicle shortly afterward. The spacecraft returned to Earth near where the upper stage was expected to fall in an area that's completely uninhabited.
The failure happened at a stage of the launch where Arianespace is able to obtain detailed telemetry data from tracking stations in North America.
[...] The company's initial investigation focused on the engine of the liquid-fueled fourth stage, specifically "a problem related to the integration of the fourth-stage AVUM nozzle activation system," which was "the most likely cause of the loss of control of the launcher." Arianespace has already named a European Space Agency official who will head the inquiry into the failure, which will focus on why the problem wasn't caught and corrected prior to launch.
Bad Cabling Blamed for Failed Launch of European Satellites
Bad cabling blamed for failed launch of European satellites:
The European Space Agency said the Vega carrier rocket deviated from its trajectory eight minutes after liftoff from Kourou, in French Guiana, late Monday.
France-based Arianespace said an initial investigation showed the first [three] stages of the Vega launch vehicle had functioned as planned. When the final stage of the rocket—known as AVUM—ignited, the spacecraft tumbled off course, leading to a "loss of mission," it said.
"A problem related to the integration of the fourth-stage AVUM nozzle activation system is the most likely cause of the loss of control of the launcher," Arianespace said.
The company's chief technical officer, Roland Lagier, said data indicated the issue was down to wrongly installed cables in a system controlling the thrusters.
He blamed quality control and "a series of human errors," for the problem.
Vega Rocket Failure Apparently Caused by Human Error
Vega Rocket Failure Apparently Caused by Human Error:
An Arianespace Vega rocket carrying two satellites failed to reach orbit yesterday after experiencing a catastrophic failure eight minutes into the launch. Officials are attributing the loss of the rocket to a “series of human errors.”
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(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday November 19 2020, @03:35PM (4 children)
Very interesting comment. Yes, here in the US I lament this whole culture of "old stuff is crap, we have to toss it and start over". I mean, there's always room for improving things, but why not learn from past designs, and mistakes? Please don't misunderstand, it's not an all-or-nothing thing- plenty of youth are learning from the farts, but I keep seeing mistakes in designs and manufacturing that I know someone already learned from... But I've always been one to take things apart, so I have a pretty good understanding of how things have been done.
I would have expected the connectors to be unique, or keyed, or very clearly marked on the connector to prevent these mistakes. And hopefully several levels of inspection?
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday November 19 2020, @04:28PM (3 children)
My perhaps the most important point as I can see it is that the issue is well known and it is well known for about 100 years. What is happening now is that "cable connections" are being replaced by software commands, but people who design this software have no clue whatsoever about this previous human experience and are arrogant enough to actually dismiss it outright. No pilot like myself would ever write code that would send a turn command without checking first if the right turn device is attached. Coding this large bag of human experience is the hard part as opposed to just trust the crap that comes as an input. Note that the error is from Airbus so we should guess their airplanes designed similar and they do overwrite pilot's input as well.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday November 19 2020, @07:04PM (2 children)
Again, interesting what you write, and as I read I'm thinking: there's really no way to fully test the entire rocket system. I think they could test the thruster / reaction control jets, but it wouldn't be easy. Still, would have saved a huge amount of $.
Again, and as someone else commented here, the connectors need to be unique so that there's no possibility of mixup.
On another similar web board (ahem) someone had the gall to say that machines are smarter than humans.
Firstly, it's too broad of a statement, as so many are these days. Maybe a correctly working machine is smarter / faster / more accurate than a human, but the machine might fail, or have limited or false knowledge, as with 737MAX MCAS, so a human should be able to override if necessary. That's my $0.02.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Thursday November 19 2020, @11:44PM (1 child)
Exactly. Actually, there is no way to fully test anything. That's why one builds on experience. She does as elders did without questioning why simply because there is no way to now exactly why. It's just many dead bodies paved this experience way.
One slowly adds to this way and never replaces it.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday November 19 2020, @11:49PM
"Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."
- (slightly reworded) George Santayana