{"id":12298,"date":"2020-07-31T17:35:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T09:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-identifies-faulty-electrical-connector-as-cause-of-launch-failure\/"},"modified":"2020-07-31T17:35:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T09:35:51","slug":"rocket-lab-identifies-faulty-electrical-connector-as-cause-of-launch-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-identifies-faulty-electrical-connector-as-cause-of-launch-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab identifies faulty electrical connector as cause of launch failure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off from New Zealand on July 4 with seven small satellites. The rocket\u2019s upper stage shut down prematurely, resulting in the loss of all seven payloads. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A detached electrical connector on the second stage of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket caused a failure on a July 4 mission that destroyed seven small commercial satellites, but the company said Friday it is on track to resume launching before the end of August.<\/p>\n

Once the electrical system disconnected in flight, it cut power from the rocket\u2019s battery to the electric turbopumps on the Electron\u2019s second stage Rutherford engine. That caused the engine to switch off prematurely around five-and-a-half minutes after the rocket took off from Rocket Lab\u2019s launch base in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The early engine shutdown prevented the rocket from reaching the velocity necessary to enter a stable orbit around Earth, according to Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, a small satellite launch company headquartered in Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n

But telemetry continued streaming from the launch vehicle back to Rocket Lab\u2019s control center in Auckland, New Zealand, allowing engineers to analyze data and determine the cause of the failure. The kerosene-fueled second stage engine shut down in a controlled manner, and the rocket coasted to an altitude of around 121 miles (195 kilometers) before re-entering the atmosphere and burning up.<\/p>\n

The seven satellites lost in the launch failure were owned by Canon, Planet and a British startup company named In-Space Missions.<\/p>\n

Improved testing should be able to catch defects in the type of electrical connector that led to the July 4 failure, and engineers believe no design changes will be required on the Electron rocket before future flights, Beck said.<\/p>\n

Before this month\u2019s accident, the Electron rocket had amassed a flawless success record since entering commercial service in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the launch industry, and unfortunately these things do happen,\u201d Beck said Friday in a conference call with reporters. \u201cI think Electron has somewhat earned its stripes with the fact that we\u2019ve put 53 customer payloads into orbit without fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The failed launch July 4 was the 13th flight of an Electron rocket, and marked the second time an Electron failed to reach orbit, following a problem on the first Electron test flight in 2017. No customer payloads were aboard the inaugural test flight.<\/p>\n

Working under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates U.S. launch companies, Rocket Lab engineers traced the cause of the July 4 launch failure to a problem with an electrical connector on the vehicle\u2019s second stage.<\/p>\n

The faulty connector evaded Rocket Lab\u2019s pre-flight testing procedures.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, you could define it as really a thermal fault,\u201d Beck said. \u201cSo while all of that testing showed no issues, after a period of time, one of the joints had a higher resistance, and that higher resistance led to heating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat heating then led to thermal expansion of one of the components,\u201d he said. \u201cThat thermal expansion and heating allowed some of the potting compounds around that joint \u2014 (intended) to keep it secure from vibration \u2014 to flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beck said the problem was a \u201cvery, very sneaky and tricky issue to screen for\u201d during testing. Engineers did not uncover the faulty electrical connector before the July 4 mission because it remained secure during Rocket Lab\u2019s standard pre-launch vibration and thermal vacuum testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the issue is well understood by the team,\u201d Beck said. \u201cWe have 600 people working at Rocket Lab, and this is everybody\u2019s No. 1 priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a press release Friday, Rocket Lab said engineers seeking the root cause of the failure reviewed more than 25,000 channels of data from the Electron launch vehicle, and performed extensive testing on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds everybody just how incredibly hard this is, and spaceflight has no tolerance for any error whatsoever,\u201d Beck said.<\/p>\n