by Andy Nystrom
Editor, Redmond Reporter
The commercial space industry had its second major accident last week when Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo dropped from the airplane that carried it some 50,000 feet over the Mojave desert. In a test flight, the space plane’s rocket engines ignited, then exploded, destroying the spacecraft, killing one of its pilots, and leaving the other in serious condition.
The accident follows the Oct. 28 failed launch of an Orbital Sciences rocket attempting to carry out a commercial mission to the International Space Station. When that rocket went down it carried a high tech device made in Redmond with it. Despite the set back, the company is upbeat.
A tweet from Redmond’s Planetary Resources rolled out later that day: “A3 was just a robot! We are making more.”
The unmanned Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket “suffered a catastrophic failure” shortly after its 6:22 p.m. (EDT) lift-off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., according to Orbital and Planetary Resources. NASA’s emergency operations officials reported that no one was injured when flaming debris fell to the ground on the south end of Wallops Island.
The rocket was carrying supplies to the International Space Station and also had the Redmond startup’s first technology demonstrator, the Arkyd (A3) test satellite, on board.
Prior to the launch, the startup tweeted: “Less than 3 minutes to the launch of #ARKYD A3!! We’re excited!!”
After the explosion, another tweet: “Live to fly another day. Onward!”
“As this launch failure and history have demonstrated, spaceflight is inherently risky. The A3 is the first example of our strategy to ‘use space as our testbed,’ and to tolerate failures by building success into the development path,” said Stacey Tearne, vice president of communications for Planetary Resources, which develops technology for mining asteroids.
In a statement on Orbital’s website, Frank Culbertson, executive vice president and general manager of its Advanced Programs Group, said: “It is far too early to know the details of what happened. As we begin to gather information, our primary concern lies with the ongoing safety and security of those involved in our response and recovery operations.”
Culbertson added that Orbital will conduct a thorough investigation of the failure, and as soon as officials understand the cause, they will take steps to return to flight.
As for Planetary Resources, Tearne said: “With the A3, the Planetary Resources’ team achieved most of our objectives when we delivered the spacecraft to the launch integration site.”
For more, visit www.planetaryresources.com.
