{"id":11464,"date":"2022-06-13T01:36:08","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T17:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/two-hurricane-research-satellites-lost-in-astra-launch-failure\/"},"modified":"2022-06-13T01:36:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T17:36:08","slug":"two-hurricane-research-satellites-lost-in-astra-launch-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/two-hurricane-research-satellites-lost-in-astra-launch-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Two hurricane research satellites lost in Astra launch failure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Astra\u2019s Rocket 3.3 vehicle lifted off at 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT) Sunday from Cape Canaveral with the first two NASA TROPICS hurricane research satellites. Credit: Astra \/ NASASpaceflight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two small NASA hurricane research satellites were destroyed after launch from Cape Canaveral Sunday when their commercial rocket, provided by Astra, prematurely shut down its upper stage engine before reaching the mission\u2019s target orbit.<\/p>\n

The twin nanosatellites \u2014 each about the size of a shoebox \u2014 were the vanguard of a planned fleet of six cyclone monitoring spacecraft to measure temperature, moisture, and other parameters inside hurricanes and tropical storms.<\/p>\n

The TROPICS mission is designed to collect data on cyclones with higher frequency than possible with other satellites. The goal is to make measurements over hurricanes in repeating passes as often as every 50 minutes, up from four times per day with conventional weather satellites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe regret not being able to deliver the first two TROPICS satellites,\u201d tweeted Chris Kemp, co-founder and CEO of Astra, a company founded in 2016 that focuses on small satellite launch services. \u201cNothing is more important to our team than the trust of our customers and the successful delivery of the remaining TROPICS satellites. We will share more when we have fully reviewed data.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss of the first two TROPICS satellites isn\u2019t a death knell for the mission. NASA officials said before Sunday\u2019s launch that only four of the six satellites, or two of the three launches from Astra, need to work to meet the mission\u2019s success criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough today\u2019s launch with Astra d<\/span>id not go as planned, the mission offered a great opportunity for new science and launch capabilities,\u201d tweeted Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA\u2019s science mission directorate. \u201cEarth venture missions, like this one, are low cost opportunities to send NASA science to space. It also enables more opportunities for researchers to have access to space.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The flight began with liftoff from Space Launch Complex 46 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT), following a delay of more than an hour-and-a-half to clear a boat from the downrange hazard area and allow Astra time to ensure the proper conditioning of liquid oxygen propellant on the rocket.<\/p>\n

The small-scale launcher, standing just 43 feet (13.1 meters) tall, quickly climbed away from pad 46 powered by five kerosene-fueled Delphin engines. Astra\u2019s launch vehicle, called Rocket 3.3, is the smallest orbital-class satellite launcher currently in operation, standing less than one-fifth the height of SpaceX\u2019s much larger Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n

The first stage steered the rocket east from the Cape Canaveral spaceport, then shut down its engines on time. A payload shroud jettisoned to reveal the upper stage and the two NASA research satellites, followed by stage separation and ignition of the upper stage engine.<\/p>\n

The second stage\u2019s Aether engine, also burning kerosene, was supposed to fire more than five minutes to propel the two NASA TROPICS hurricane research satellites into orbit. The rocket targeted an altitude of 357 miles (550 kilometers).<\/p>\n

But live video from a camera on the upper stage showed the engine shut off at about T+plus 7 minutes, 21 seconds, more than a minute before the scheduled cutoff time. A telemetry display on the live video stream indicated the rocket was flying at an altitude of around 330 miles (532 kilometers) and a velocity of 14,707 mph (6,575 meters per second) when the engine turned off.<\/p>\n