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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 1136.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT Atlas grounding follows Delta failure CAPE CANAVERAL Launch of an Atlas-Centaur carrying a US Navy Fltsatcom communications satellite on May 22 has been postponed indefinitely while engineers attempt to understand what caused the shutdown of the first-stage engine of a Delta booster lsec after launch on May 3. The postponement was ordered because the Delta and Atlas first-stage engines, although not the same, are both built by Rocketdyne, reports Tim Furniss. The Atlas-Centaur ground ing, following the January 28 loss of Space Shuttle Chal lenger, the April 18 Titan 34D launch explosion, and the May 3 Delta failure, means that all four major launch vehicles in the US space programme are temporarily out of action. Carrying the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Goes G geostationary weather satel lite, the Delta launcher was deliberately destroyed by the range safety officer 20sec after its first-stage engine cut out. Just before the shutdown, described by a launch director "as though someone just turned the engine off, there was an electrical surge that some engineers suspect points to a short-circuit. Others, more dramatically, suspect sabotage, a possibility not ruled out by Nasa as we go to press. Immediately after the Delta accident, an eight-man failure review board was appointed with a brief to report its find ings on July 2. It is unlikely that there will be a major US satellite launch before this date. The May 3 launch was the 178th for Delta, and only the 12th failure since the un successful first launch attempt in May 1960. It was the first failure in the 44 launches since OTS-1 was lost in 1977. It was also the first Delta flight since Nato HID was launched in November 1984. The McDonnell Douglas Delta concerned was a model 3914, with nine Morton Thiokol Castor IV strap-on solid rocket boosters attached to a Thor first stage with its Rocketdyne RS-27 liquid oxygen/kerosene main engine. The second stage was a TRW TR-201 liquid- propellant engine and the third stage comprised a Thio kol solid-propellant TE364-4. The launch, originally sched uled for May 1, was delayed when RP1 kerosene fuel leaked from an incorrectly seated first-stage fuel valve seal. Nasa does not think this is related to the accident, however. Before the failure, the next Delta launch was scheduled for August 22, carrying a Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) payload, followed on October 9 by the launch of Goes H. These dates must now be in doubt. A further SDI Delta launch is scheduled for August 1987. This flight will carry payloads previously assigned to two Delta flights, releasing the 182nd and final completed vehicle to carry another payload. A further 11 partially completed Deltas are avail able, but the SDI organisation has been granted exclusive access to these vehicles, three of which are nearing completion at McDonnell Douglas. Transpace Carriers, which Out for the count: the May 3 destruction of a Delta launch vehicle (left) has led Nasa to ground its larger Atlas-Centaur (right) 44 holds the rights to private- sector marketing and pro duction of Delta, was to have taken over the commercial launch rights in 1987. The company had planned to use the 11 partially completed Deltas, which Nasa cannot now release. If all these vehi cles are not needed for SDI payloads, Nasa may use the remainder to launch delayed Shuttle payloads under its " own control. Transpace is unlikely to be given access to any of the Deltas currently ' available. The company is therefore on hold, unable to „ firm up any launch contracts because it cannot give launch dates. For the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis tration (Noaa), loss of the* $57 • 5 million Hughes-built Goes is a "serious setback". Goes G was to have brought Noaa's fleet of geostationary weather satellites back to full strength. Noaa normally operates two Goes, one over the Atlantic and one over the , Pacific. Since Goes 5 failed in July 1984, however, Goes 6 has been performing both jobs from a wandering orbit over Central America. Noaa says it is possible' for Goes 6 to operate for a further four years, although it is already three years into ' its five-year design life. The Agency still hopes to , launch Goes H by Delta later this year, and in the meantime operates its worldwide - weather monitoring service together with Japan's GMS-3 and Europe's Meteosat 2, * plus its own polar-orbiting Noaa 9. Goes G was to have been ' the first geostationary satellite to carry the Sarsat international search and rescue system, carrying equip ment to pick up and relay ^ distress signals. Improved Ford Aerospace-built Goes satellites are to be orbited by » Shuttle starting in 1990. Three have been ordered, Goes I, J, and K, with options'' on two more, L and M. Three completed Atlas- Centaurs remain to be* launched, all carrying US Navy Fltsatcoms, the first on^ May 22, the second on November 6, and the third in June 1987. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 17 May 1986
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