NASA's Astra rocket has suffered an upper-stage failure resulting in the loss of two satellites during the space agency's Sunday launch of the shoebox-sized craft from Cape Canaveral.
The modest mission was made in order to improve hurricane forecasts but ended up leading to the second stage of the agency's low-cost booster malfunctioning before it could reach orbit. This also meant that the payloads were lost during the incident.
Failed Launch Attempt
In a Twitter post, Astra said that the upper stage shut down early, and they were not able to deliver the payloads to orbit. They added that they shared their regrets with NASA and the payload team. Authorities said that more information would be provided after completing full data analysis of the incident.
The latest launch of Astra's small "Venture-class" rocket marks its seventh and is the company's fifth failure so far. The Sunday launch was the first of three that were planned for NASA to send six small CubeSats, two at a time, into three orbital planes, as per CBS News.
With the risky nature of relying on tiny shoebox-sized CubeSats and a rocket that has a very short track record, the $40 million project requires only four satellites and two successful launches to meet mission objectives.
NASA's contract also calls for the final two flights to be conducted by the end of July and whether or not Astra can meet that schedule given Sunday's failure is not yet known. NASA science chief Thomas Zurbuchen posted a tweet saying, "Although today's launch with @Astra did not go as planned, the mission offered a great opportunity for new science and launch capabilities."
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The agency's launch on Sunday also came an hour and 43 minutes late due to ensuring the booster's load of liquid oxygen propellant was at the proper temperature. Astra engineers also counted down to liftoff at 1:43 p.m. in hopes of chalking up the company's third successful flight to orbit.
According to Space, Astra's senior manager for the first stage and engine production, Amanda Durk Frye, said they had a nominal first stage flight. However, they noted during a live launch commentary that the upper-stage engine did shut down early.
Weather Forecasting Technology
The Lvl0010 mission of Astra carried the first satellites of NASA's Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS). The three-mission TROPICS deal between Astra and NASA is worth a total of $7.95 million.
A research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Scott Braun, said that TROPICS would provide frequent views of tropical cyclones that will give insight into their formation, intensification, and interactions with their environment. This would provide critical data for storm monitoring and forecasting.
An astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Jonathan McDowell, said that the two TROPICS payloads likely fell to Earth shortly after the engine cut out. He estimated that the vehicle was in a 545-kilometer orbit at the time of shutdown. In a Twitter post, he noted that the vehicle and payloads would have most likely crashed in the Atlantic a few minutes after the engine shut down, Florida Today reported.
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