At the launch site in the US state of Virginia this night something went wrong. Booster Antares, which was supposed to launch a spaceship Cygnus with two tons of cargo to the ISS, exploded soon after launch. Such a state of emergency with Antares happened the first time. According to the preliminary version of the system has gone out one of the engines. Questions in connection with the accident can occur in Ukraine.
It all happened at the Mid-Atlantic regional spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. Start booster Antares was scheduled for 18 hours and 22 minutes. But after 6 seconds after the start of an explosion.
The rocket fell directly on the pad, started a large fire. Unmanned cargo ship Cygnus (the Swan constellation in Latin) is destroyed, and the damage received spaceport. Everyone who was there at the time of the explosion, was asked not to leave the shelter, where usually during startup is the staff. On the ground and in the air toxic substances. As a result of emergency no one was injured.
“We are very disappointed that the state of emergency did not allow us to fulfill their obligations and deliver the cargo into orbit at the time. We also ask for forgiveness from all those who counted on the cargo and the results its use in space “- said Frank Culbertson, executive vice president of Orbital Sciences.
Space truck was supposed to deliver to orbit products for astronauts, equipment for spacewalks and materials for experiments, as well as some secret cryptographic hardware – it is now looking very carefully on the ground.
“We thought that this could ever happen, so we have provided in advance of the ISS with all necessary for half a year ahead. The food situation in orbit I can call safe, “- said the head of NASA’s ISS program Safredini Mike.
It is supposed to eight runs. After the first trial, in April of this year, NASA signed a contract with a private corporation Orbital Sciences. Those, in turn, ordered the first-stage engine in the Ukraine.
They are created by Ukrainian design bureau “Southern” named Michael Yangelya and manufactured at the production association “Southern Machine-Building Plant” in Dnipropetrovsk in cooperation with a number of Ukrainian enterprises. The engine of the first stage AJ-26 – a modified NK-33 Soviet-designed yet. Now they are doing Samara enterprise “SNTK named Nikolai Kuznetsov.” But in Ukraine with a snap shoot some added American electronics checked for compatibility with the fuel produced in the United States, and is also equipped with a hinge for thrust vector control. In the second stage Antares established American solid engine Castor-30.
While at NASA no one claims not push. But given that the carrier rocket exploded on the Antares 6 seconds, you can assume that the issues will be the engines of the first stage or the control system. Finally the causes of the disaster will set a special commission, which will include representatives of NASA and Orbital Sciences. To be assessed and the extent of the damage spaceport – Antares can only be run from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment