The private
launch firm UP
Aerospace has postponed the planned launch of its second rocket this month as
it roots out the source of an in-flight glitch that doomed a September space
shot.
UP
Aerospace officials initially hoped to launch their second unmanned suborbital SpaceLoft
XL rocket - dubbed SL-2 - on Oct. 21, but opted to allow more time to completely
investigate
the failure of the booster's flight
debut last month.
"The
investigation is going very well," UP Aerospace president Jerry Larson told SPACE.com,
adding that the precise cause of the crash is close at hand. "We're homing in
on what I believe is the cause...we want to make sure that we finish the
investigation properly and don't leave any stone unturned."
Larson said
UP Aerospace is now preparing to launch its next rocket by the end of the year.
Like its predecessor, the next SpaceLoft XL rocket will lift off from New
Mexico's state-funded Spaceport America,
near Upham - about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Las Cruces - in a remote
area known for its low population density.
"To successfully fly in 2006 is our goal," Larson said. "We're all extremely excited
that we got the first launch off and it did well, but obviously we would have liked
to make space. That was our ultimate goal."
Launch
debut
UP
Aerospace's 20-foot (six-meter) SpaceLoft XL rocket debuted
on Sept. 25, when the booster shot from its rail
launch pad only to wobble seconds after liftoff and come crashing back to
Earth.
The rocket -
designed to carry 110-pound (50-kilogram) payloads to suborbital altitudes of
up to 140 miles (225 kilometers) - reached a maximum height of about 40,000
feet (12,192 meters) before returning to Earth, according to past reports.
The Sept.
25 launch marked the first-ever flight
staged from Spaceport America.
"There was
no structural damage to the vehicle during the flight at all, nothing broke," Larson
said, adding that initial concerns that the rocket's fins were damaged in
flight proved unfounded once the wreckage was recovered. "The vehicle is strong
enough to withstand a Mach 4 corkscrew."
It took UP
Aerospace officials about one week to retrieve the SpaceLoft XL wreckage with
the help of radar data from monitoring stations at New Mexico's White Sands
Missile Range.
"If we did
not have that radar data, it would have taken us much longer, if not made it
almost impossible," Larson said of the recovery effort and subsequent
investigation. "They could see the oscillations of the motion and what was
physically going on with the body during flight."
In addition
to UP Aerospace's investigation, Spaceport America officials have also formed
an Anomaly Investigation Board to review the SpaceLoft XL's crash.
"We've got
to get the Spaceport's approval, and White Sands' and the Federal Aviation
Authorities," Larson said, stressing that fixing the anomaly safely is vital
for future SpaceLoft XL flights. "So there are a lot of players."
A good
start
Despite the
Sept. 25 crash, Larson's said UP Aerospace gained valuable suborbital launch
experience that went far beyond that attained during dress rehearsals.
"The launch
crew performed flawlessly," Larson said, adding that half of the flight's
ground personnel were Spaceport America officials, with the other half staffed
by UP Aerospace. "It gives me hope that we'll be able to launch multiple times
in a day because it was so slick."
UP
Aerospace is not alone in its rocky debut of a new launch vehicle.
Earlier
this year, El Segundo, California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)
launched
its first privately-developed Falcon
1 rocket from a South Pacific atoll which failed
just after liftoff.
The first
U.S attempt to orbit a satellite - the Navy's Vanguard TV3 - failed two seconds
after ignition on Dec. 6, 1957.
"You can't
get into this business expecting things to be perfect," Larson said. "For some
of these launch vehicles and rockets, it's all or nothing."
As the
SpaceLoft XL crash investigation continues, Larson and other UP Aerospace
officials plan to attend next week's Wirefly X
Prize Cup spaceflight exhibition in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they will
display video of their first flight and discuss their plans for commercial suborbital
spaceflight.
"The X
Prize Cup is certainly on that cutting edge," Larson said. "I think that's why
it's exciting to everybody. It's not the status quo."
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