An Astra rocket carrying two small hurricane tracking satellites for NASA did not reach orbit on Sunday (June 12) after a major malfunction shortly after takeoff.
The Astra rocket, named Launch Vehicle 0010 (LV0010), crashed in the second stage after taking off from a platform at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:43 p.m. 1743 GMT). Two NASA cubes were lost, the first of a six-satellite fleet to track hurricanes as part of a $ 30 million mission.
“We had a nominal first-stage flight; however, the upper-stage engine soon shut down and we did not deliver our payloads into orbit,” said Amanda Durk Frye, senior director of the first stage. and engine production, during the live launch commentary. .
“We have shared our grief with @NASA and the payload team,” Astra officials added in a Twitter update (opens in a new tab). “More information will be provided after a complete review of the data is completed”. Sunday’s launch attempt was initially targeted at 12:00 EDT (16:00 GMT), but was delayed by a boat in the launch area and a fuel problem.
Video: Watch the launch of Astra’s LV0010 rocket launch with NASA satellites
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Astra’s 0010 launch vehicle carrying two NASA hurricane TROPICS satellites takes off from a platform at the Cape Canaveral space force station in Florida on June 12, 2022. (Credit Image: Images provided by NASASpaceflight LLC and Astra Space Inc.)
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This image shows the first stage of the Astra LV0010 rocket falling from its upper stage (in the foreground) with the blue Earth in the background after takeoff on June 12, 2022, with Florida dominating the view. (Image credit: Images provided by NASASpaceflight LLC and Astra Space Inc.)Image 1 of 2
Astra’s LV0010 mission carried the first satellites in the structure of precipitation observations resolved in NASA time and the intensity of the storm with a constellation of small satellites (TROPICS). It was the first of three TROPICS missions planned this year by Astra, each with two cubes of NASA the size of a loaf of bread, to complete the constellation of hurricane observation. The TROPICS three-mission Astra deal with NASA is worth a total of $ 7.95 million for the company.
“TROPICS will give us very frequent views of tropical cyclones, providing insight into their formation, intensification, and interactions with their environment, and providing critical data for storm tracking and forecasting,” said Scott Braun, a meteorologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA at Greenbelt. , Maryland, said in a statement (opens in a new tab) before the release.
By using three pairs of TROPIC satellites, each in a different orbit, NASA hoped to monitor hurricanes and tropical storms every hour. It’s unclear if the agency can still do that with just four satellites, or if the two lost in today’s launch failure will be replaced.
Sunday’s failed launch is Astra’s second setback this year. In February, the California-based company was unable to launch four NASA cubes as part of the ELaNa 41 mission, a flight that also took place from its Florida launch pad and marked the first attempt. Astra to launch payloads for a customer. The fault was a problem with the payload fairing of the rocket, with Astra implementing a solution to prevent it from happening again.
Astra successfully reached orbit with customer payloads a month later, when its LV0009 rocket took off from a platform at the Pacific Space Port complex on Kodiak Island in Alaska, where the company had launched four previous test flights. The company’s first successful orbital launch took place on one of these test flights in November 2021.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in a new tab) or follow up with @tariqjmalik (opens in a new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab), Facebook (opens in a new tab) and Instagram (opens in a new tab).