The
inaugural rocket from New Mexico's Spaceport America crashed in the desert
today after failing in its mission to reach sub-orbital space.
The
UP Aerospace rocket took off at 2:14 p.m. and was due back about 13 minutes
later at White Sands Missile Range but it instead plummeted back to Earth
prematurely.
It
was not immediately clear where the rocket landed or what condition it was in,
Associated Press reports.
The
SpaceLoft XL is a 20-foot (6 meters) tall, single-stage solid-fuel rocket. At
liftoff, the rocket quickly was supposed to accelerate to five times the speed
of sound--nearly 3,400 miles per hour.
The
rocket and its payload was scheduled to fly to the international definition of
space, 62 miles (100 kilometers) in just a minute and a half, and to achieve an
even higher flight apogee shortly thereafter.
The
rocket's short flight was tracked by radars at the White Sands Missile Range, located just to the east of Spaceport America.
The
New Mexico spaceport site is approximately 70 square kilometers of open,
generally level range land north of Las Cruces and east of Truth or
Consequences. This location was favored for its low population density,
uncongested airspace and high elevation.
New
Mexico's
Spaceport America will cost a total of approximately $225 million to fully
construct. Billed as the world's first "purpose-built" commercial spaceport for
personal spaceflight, the state officials have attracted several space firms to
New Mexico, including Virgin Galactic, Starchaser, UP Aerospace, Rocket Racing
League, and the annual X-Prize Cup.
According
to Jerry Larson, the President of UP Aerospace, Inc., the rocket motor for SpaceLoft
XL was eyed for streamlined production. The group focused on ways to
dramatically reduce rocket motor development and productions costs.
To
achieve that goal, UP Aerospace partnered with Canadian-based Cesaroni
Technology Inc. (CTI), located just outside of Toronto.
CTI
has years of experience producing small, low-cost, high-performance rocket
motors, but also shared with UP Aerospace an entrepreneurial philosophy that is
conducive to support a new era of space commercialization, Larson told SPACE.com.
For
example, the initial motor design for SpaceLoft XL began almost exactly a year
ago. The Preliminary Design Review was completed in September 2005. The
Critical Design Review for the motor was completed in late November 2005.
"From
system-level requirements to a complete motor design took just three months,"
Larson added. A number of static tests of the rocket motor were conducted at
CTI, with overall performance of the motor exceeding all requirements and
expectations, he noted before today's launch.
"Many
aspects of our motor are proprietary. However, what we can say is that the
motor incorporates a carbon-fiber-composite case with a case-bonded composite
propellant grain," Larson said.
A
new all-electronic ignition system device (ISD) for the suborbital rocket was
used, developed by ATK at its Tactical Systems division in Rocket Center, West Virginia. A final test of the rocket's ignition system, using ATK's ISD, was conducted
at Spaceport America on September 7, Larson said, paving the way for today's inaugural
space launch from the site.
The
loss of UP Aerospace's first rocket marks the second failed private launch
debut this year. The privately-developed Falcon 1 rocket, built by El Segundo,
California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), failed just after a March 24 liftoff. A
fuel leak prompted by a broken nut was cited
as that booster's failure.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
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