Sometimes setbacks cannot be justified in rocket engineering, but in everything, failure
is inevitable.
A typical scenario that could be matched with the sudden blast of the ULA rocket.
The big rocket went boom, just when the United Launch Alliance was hoping to conduct a clean
test.
The Vulcan Centaur 2nd stage rocket faced a sudden explosion that would make a historic
headline.
The company has been preparing to fly into orbit, reason why they spent several months
on it to get it all set for a test flight scheduled on the 4th of May.
But things didn’t go as planned as the unexpected blash happened.
However, with the drastic explosion, Vulcan Centaur's first test flight will be pushed
to another launch date.
Let’s quickly look into this blast, what must have possibly caused it, and what developments
will be carried out to repair Centaur 2nd stage in the coming weeks.
Initially, the ULA had a target of May 4th, as for the launch of the Vulcan rocket.
However, in the month of March even before the Centaur anomaly occurred, it was just
like a vision to Ars, a report was revealed that the date was already likely to slip into
the summer based on the company's internal timelines.
Of course, the company wasn’t in a hurry to launch the rocket up there.
But since testing is paramount in rocket engineering, there should be a test to lay grounds for
assurance that the launch would be successful.
ULA spokesperson Jessica Rye explained the need for the test, which seems to be inevitable.
"We are conducting an investigation and will fly when we believe it is safe to launch."
So, the aim of this test was to be sure the ULA Vulcan rocket can safely fly to orbit
and back.
But it is sad to learn that the test did more harm than good.
What happened to the ULA Vulcan Centuar V upper stage, caught it up in flames due to
a massive cloud of hydrogen gas, sending debris flying dozens of feet into the air, as a result
of the inflammable hydrogen cloud, the vessel exploded in flames as soon as the engines
were ignited, causing a massive mushroom cloud of flames above the rocket in the sky.
According to Ars source, no one was injured in the blast, but some dramatic visuals were
clearly seen.
"A column of burning, clear hydrogen shot up into a mushroom cloud that dwarfed the
test stand," one source said.
"Their test article is definitely more than just 'damaged.'
The ULA CEO, Tory Bruno acknowledged that it was an anomaly, perpetuated as a fault
from the extreme loading of hydrogen gas, which generated high pressure in the tank.
Tory Bruno came out openly to clear the air on twitter; The tweet reads;
“Keeping you posted: During Qual testing of the Centaur V structural article at MSFC,
the hardware experienced an anomaly.
This is why we thoroughly and vigorously exercise every possible condition on the ground before
flight.
Investigation is underway.
Vulcan will fly when complete.”
His tweet practically shows that the vessel was being put through the worst possible conditions
it could experience, and practically the Vulcan rocket would not experience these worse conditions
under a nominal flight trajectory.
Tory Bruno followed up his tweet, by pointing out the visible debris from the explosion
comes from the stacked rig and insulation hardware that was used in the qualification
tests for the Centaur V test article.
There was no visible damage on the rocket’s fluid tanks, with only a section of the tank
wall landing "a few feet away".
The test tank and testing rig also remained intact, and will help greatly in the investigation
of other damages.
However, the maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur, that was scheduled to take off by May, will
be delayed.
And this type of delays is an impediment that causes snail-walk growth across other rocket
companies, not just that, but it also eats up more unproductive funds against the company’s
budget.
Hence, until all repairs are done and the Vulcan Centaur rocket is deemed ready for
another possible test, any launch it may serve will be put under several delays, abruptly
very dissatisfactory to the growth of the ULA.
It’s no news that Blue Origin and the ULA announced their partnership to fund the development
of the new BE-4 rocket engines in 2014.
But the develop of the BE-4 engine was unnecessary delayed by BO, and that at a point ULA CEO,
became impatient to wait for the fat bone, he was pushed to ask; “Where are Tory’s
engines, Jeff?”
Of course BE-4 delivery delay to the ULA was like a regime of snail-walk growth in the
ULA company which lasted for 4 years, not until 2018 when Blue Origin finally delivered
the BE-4 engine to the ULA company.
At that time The ULA was not happy with how its collaboration with Blue Origin was running,
but they had no option than to make the marriage with Blue Origin work.
Many rumours were flying around then questioning the competence of BO to develop an engine
without fault, which will be used to transport the Vulcan rocket into orbit without explosion.
And those that suspected BO incompetents then were almost right because, that’s what has
actually occurred to the ULA’s Vulcan rocket today.
Hence, the suspects were actually close to hitting the nail at the head.
Even though the upper level of the Centaur 5 is based on a Heritage design, a kind of
awful design that was adopted from samples of the Soviet rocket in the 60s and 70s, the
new version includes certain upgrades as of now, resembling Blue Origin's new Shepard
rocket.
A test stand for Blue Origin is being constructed around 330 feet away from the ULA testing
facility where the incident occurred.
The rocket's upper stage that exploded has an improved version of ULA-designed engines
rather than Blue Origin BE-4 engines.
Either way, we're likely to see even more delays before the ULA can send its rocket
into orbit for the first time.
Ars obtained an image of the Centaur V disaster that occurred on March 29th, during testing
of the Vulcan rocket's upper stage.
The photo shows the anomaly—a fireball of hydrogen igniting—to the left of Blue Origin's
rocket engine test stand.
After the author posted the photo on Twitter, ULA chief executive Tory Bruno offered a more
detailed assessment of the anomaly.
He replied to the tweet saying; "Most of what you’re seeing is insulation
and smaller bits from the test rig.
One piece of the hydrogen tank’s dome, about a foot square, ended up a few feet away.
The test article is still inside the rig and largely intact, which will help with the investigation".
Unpacking this tweet, Bruno is suggesting that the Centaur stage encountered an issue
during qualification testing—the process of testing rocket engines and stages on the
ground to assess their performance under flight-like conditions.
However, more than a week later, there are still more questions than answers surrounding
the disaster.
The anomaly was also captured on video cameras from a drone operated by Blue Origin, located
at a nearby test stand.
The fact that ULA was still doing qualification testing of the Centaur upper stage suggests
it was also paving a cognitive way for the new launch vehicle.
Although this Centaur V upper stage is based on a heritage design, the new version nonetheless
integrated with significant upgrades.
And to confirm this, Bruno once said that Centaur V would be able to operate for 40
percent longer in flight and would have two-and-a-half times more energy than the Centaur upper stage
ULA currently flies.
Another question no one wants to answer concerns what exactly the Centaur stage ULA was testing?
Was it a fully flight-like stage to be used for a future mission?
Or was it more of a prototype test, which will be used for development testing, and
might be more prone to failure?
Unfortunately the ULA won't answer these questions.
Bruno argued on Twitter following the incident that it was "very unlikely" that it would
affect the Centaur V upper stage, which is currently in Florida and is intended to be
used on Vulcan's Cert-1 mission.
But before making a decision, ULA must finish its study into the mishap and meet with the
US Space Force, which will eventually certify the rocket for use in national security launches.
Time is running out for the ULA to complete Vulcan development and launch two certification
missions this year.
These two missions, if launched, will be a gateway for the Vulcan rocket to start launching
payloads for Space Force's national security mission.
ULA had aimed to embark on the first launch this year, but that now looks impossible.
Do you think the Blue Origin BE-4 engine used to power the Vulcan rocket is the primary
cause of the explosion?
SpaceX's Has Announced Starship Launch Infrastructure and has taken its Final Decision, click on
the video to know all the details and check if this would affect the next launch.