Rocket Lab recently concluded an extensive review into the cause of the anomaly that resulted in the loss of its “Running Out Of Toes” mission on May 15, 2021, and with the root cause of the issue identified and corrective measures now in place, Electron was back on the pad for its next mission from Launch Complex 1, which launched from New Zealand July 29th.
The anomaly review concluded that an issue occurred within the second stage engine igniter system almost three minutes and 20 seconds into the May 15th flight. This induced a corruption of signals within the engine computer that caused the Rutherford engine’s thrust vector control (TVC) to deviate outside nominal parameters and resulted in the engine computer commanding zero pump speed, shutting down the engine.
The igniter fault resulted from a previously undetectable failure mode within the ignition system that occurs under a unique set of environmental pressures and conditions. The issue was not evident during extensive pre-flight testing for this mission, including more than 400 seconds of burn for this particular engine, more than 1,500 Rutherford engine hot fires to date, and 17 successful orbital launches. Rocket Lab has since been able to reliably replicate the issue in testing and has implemented redundancies in the ignition system to prevent any future reoccurrence, including modifications to the igniter’s design and manufacture.
The anomaly review confirmed that Electron’s first stage performed flawlessly during the mission and did not contribute to the flight issue. As a result, Rocket Lab was able to conduct a successful reentry, ocean splashdown and recovery of the first stage as planned, marking a major milestone in the company’s program to make Electron a reusable launch vehicle.
Satisfied with its own review of the May 15 launch, the FAA confirmed in June that Rocket Lab’s launch license would remain active. With corrective measures now in place, Rocket Lab returned to the pad with an even more reliable launch vehicle to meet a busy launch schedule in the second half of 2021.
The first launch after completing the review was a mission for the United States Space Force July 29th. It was Rocket Lab’s fourth launch for the year and its 21st Electron mission overall.
The mission, named ‘It’s a Little Chile Up Here’, launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 06:00 UTC / 18:00 NZT on July 29th. A single Air Force Research Laboratory-sponsored demonstration satellite called Monolith was deployed to low Earth orbit by the Electron launch vehicle in Rocket Lab’s second mission for the USSF. Monolith will demonstrate the use of a deployable sensor, where the sensor’s mass is a substantial fraction of the total mass of the spacecraft, changing the spacecraft’s dynamic properties and testing ability to maintain spacecraft attitude control. Analysis from the use of a deployable sensor aims to enable the use of smaller satellite buses when building future deployable sensors such as weather satellites, thereby reducing the cost, complexity, and development timelines.
The mission was named ‘It’s a Little Chile Up Here’ in a nod to the popular green chile of New Mexico, where the Space Test Program is based.
In a related story, The Space Report recently released new data showing that the global space economy rose to $447 billion in 2020, an increase of 4.4% from a revised 2019 total of $428 billion. This $447 billion global space economy is 55% higher than a decade ago and part of a five-year trend of uninterrupted growth. Commercial space activity grew 6.6% to nearly $357 billion in 2020, still representing close to 80% of the total space economy. Global government space spending fell 1.2% in 2020 to $90.2 billion from a revised 2019 peak of $91.4 billion. Nearly 58% of this total was allocated to space activities by the U.S.
Globally, the top three investors in the global space economy remained the same in 2020: the United States, China and the European Space Agency. Collectively, these three entities constituted more than 81% of government space spending in 2020.
“The Space Report 2021 Q2” edition also investigates changing trends in global space spending between 2019 and 2020, revealing surprising spending decreases in traditionally dominant and developing space nations.
The second quarter edition also delves into military space spending in 2020, estimated at $31.4 billion, which constituted the smallest share of global government space spending in a decade — only 35%. Military space spending in the United States, however, increased by 6.1% in 2020, reaching a new height of $26.6 billion and comprising more than 80% of global military space spending for the first time since 2011.
For Ex Terra, the Journal of Space Commerce, I'm Tom Patton
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