Antares Rocket Explodes During Launch

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

It's his call.

"Catastrophic" normally means that something so bad has gone wrong, that allowing the launch to continue would be very dangerous.

You cited the reasons yourself in your posts. Imagine if the guidance system malfunctioned enough to where the rocket continued to fly, but did a ballistic trajectory into the heart of any city nearby.....with all that fuel still onboard.

Better to detonate and make the rocket crash in the safety zone than to take out most of a small town.

It's also SOP.

a reply to: eriktheawful

The launch pad is way out on a sand spit away from everything. Low altitude explosion gathers a lot more attention.
There were school children involved with experiments that were on board.
The PHD's are still using the same old tactics as they did in the early 60's.

Many schoolchildren were viewing the launch live, and media coverage of the accident was extensive.[

a reply to: eriktheawful

Better to detonate and make the rocket crash in the safety zone than to take out most of a small town.

Absolutely better. Unless you are a terrorist..of course. Than it's your wet dream.

Anyway...it's just a stupid feeling...mainly due to this reported info about seeing the launch.

I probably just have...standard conspiracy overload.


edit:

I like to entertain conspiracies...just hypothetically...if indeed the launch was successful as reported by ATS members, the day before...and blowing up the rocket would defo avert eyes from the payload...and there wouldn't be any need for reporting on anything. You could use that tech quite clandestine...away from public eyes. The explosion would be a perfect cover story.

Anyway...I better get to my midnight porn to unwind..

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

It would be interesting to see some posted images or video of this phantom launch that took place the day before. That way we can look at it and see if it really was a launch, or something else.

Yah, someone with malicious intent would love to have the rocket do something like that. But anyone that could successfully gain access and doing something like that would be well aware of the range officer being able to destroy it if anything were to go wrong. Can't have a rocket designed to go into orbit, suddenly go sub-orbital instead and impact with another country. That's bad news as some might mistake it for a nuclear launch.

This is an article in the WaPo about the wisdom of using decades old Soviet rockets.

Washington Post

a reply to: Spruce Elon Musk reportedly said, Space X was using 1960's Russian rocket motors. If true, what can you expect. The USSR would happily blow up a dozen launches, to make PR on the thirteenth.

a reply to: Bigburgh
Sorry, I haven't gotten the time to do a write-up... Yet, It seems a lot of info is showing it's self on this thread.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
Where are you guys? Nothing specific like address but what city? I'm in Hampton across the bay from Wallops Island. We can see the launches from here. I thought I'd just missed it the other day. You say you saw a launch? I didn't hear that it was postponed from anyone other than my husband and God knows he's been wrong before Lol. a reply to: Dracan6

I Live in NC, so I cannot definitively say that the launch was from Wallops. However, we all saw a rocket go up. We were all looking NE, waiting for it to happen. After, the window of time to see it had past--I started to just check the moon w/ my binoculars. My wife said. "Is that it?" I see a nice vertical smoke trail. Then, it was there, a rocket! Very obvious! It had the same trajectory as the one that was launching. (supposedly)
"I thought it was the same, just delayed"

I cannot say that it came from Wallops. Because, i do not know. ( As a scientist, I must admit fallacy and limiting facts) Though, I have 3 eye witnesses that saw a rocket go up, from that direction. Five or six minutes after the one scheduled.

There were also people on the NASA site that wondered the same thing.
I can quote from a screenshot I took: (in the case it was erased, as was a few of my questions)

"David Mercer
Oct 28/14 7:48AM
If launch was scrubbed, what the hell did I see flying over my house at the same time?!!!!"

I uploaded some pics of the screenshot last night.

originally posted by: pheonix358

originally posted by: CalibratedZeus
Was on the news in New Jersey all morning that some kids from a local school had an experiment going up there and were at the launch. Poor little ones.

I think that those kids will have a real exciting story to tell and will all get an A for science.

Kids like things that go boom.

"Mum, mum, it was wicked mum, it went up and then it went boom. Michael was so excited he asked them to do it again."

P

Mom, Michael said, "It blowed up good, it blowed up "real good"...."

originally posted by: Brandyjack
a reply to: Spruce Elon Musk reportedly said, Space X was using 1960's Russian rocket motors. If true, what can you expect. The USSR would happily blow up a dozen launches, to make PR on the thirteenth.

The Antares rocket which failed so spectacularly the other day was an Orbital Sciences launch vehicle, NOT a SpaceX vehicle. The Antares does use Soviet-era NK-33 rocket engines, although they have been "modified" by Aerojet in the US and renamed using the designation AJ26 to meet US import/export laws, and Elon has poked some fun at this situation at Orbital's expense.

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
This highlights the fallacy of conventional propulsion But it's the best we have for the time being-Until someone comes up with an alternate solution.

It doesn't bear to think what consequences of a nuclear-propulsion or antimatter-propulsion failure would be.

The majority of current rockets are fuel. A nuclear powered rocket could be pretty tiny, something the size of a pick up truck loaded with mostly cargo. The amount of energy required to get it up would be considerably less and so much less fuel required. If we're talking about nuclear fusion then it should be pretty safe as a failure would likely result in virtualy no explosion.

In my opinion, Antimatter, I'm not sure we can create enough or store it sufficiently for it to be of any use. The expenditure of creating it would currently outweigh the advantages over using combustible fuel.

a reply to: pg1889

OK I have asked 3 times now and been completely blanked, now I know this place is a bit clicky and posters don't like interacting with those with a low post count but I will try one last time... After the explosion, when it is bright and just about to go dark you see a figure move very very fast then leap, seems to be in the field.. If this was debris being blown by the explosion you would expect it to come towards the camera but this "thing" goes sideways, check it out, seems to me this thing runs very fast then leaps..

a reply to: pg1889

its blades of grass close to the cam.

a reply to: haven123

No. I don't mean the grass or any plants moving about in the wind, you clearly don't see it

originally posted by: pg1889
a reply to: haven123

No. I don't mean the grass or any plants moving about in the wind, you clearly don't see it

screenshot and point it out then

originally posted by: haven123

originally posted by: pg1889
a reply to: haven123

No. I don't mean the grass or any plants moving about in the wind, you clearly don't see it

screenshot and point it out then

At around 35 seconds you will see it move to the right, then leap.. I zoomed the youtube clip into 300, although you do not get a clear shot you clearly see it move quickly from left to right





The pic is just a guide as to where to look.. I have ringed the object and drawn a line of the way it will move then leap... Obviously the pic are poor but they are just a guide as where to look, once you see the movement just zoom in on youtube like 300 or 400

originally posted by: haven123

originally posted by: pg1889
a reply to: haven123

No. I don't mean the grass or any plants moving about in the wind, you clearly don't see it

screenshot and point it out then

At around 35 seconds you will see it move to the right, then leap.. I zoomed the youtube clip into 300, although you do not get a clear shot you clearly see it move quickly from left to right





The pic is just a guide as to where to look.. I have ringed the object and drawn a line of the way it will move then leap... Obviously the pic are poor but they are just a guide as where to look, once you see the movement just zoom in on youtube like 300 or 400

a reply to: pg1889

Looked like a plant or tumbleweed that was blown out of the ground and swirling around to me.

P

a reply to: Trueman Yeah, by a private contractor to NASA. Like everything else about trickle down and private companies can do it better. Suck up the money, don't pay corporate or income tax, then screw up without oversight, because the government can't punish private corporations for "mistakes."

LOL I can pretty much promise you there are no tumble weeds here in eastern Virginia. Sometimes a plastic shopping bag will blow down the street and we call those Virginia tumble weeds. a reply to: pheonix358